


Inside My Mind

by Danishartist



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Bottom Eren Yeager, Dry Humping, First Time, Gay Sex, M/M, Partner Betrayal, Smut, Top Levi (Shingeki no Kyojin), mindreading, riren - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-02
Updated: 2015-05-03
Packaged: 2018-03-04 21:01:11
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 25
Words: 58,838
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3089525
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Danishartist/pseuds/Danishartist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>As a punishment from his mother, Eren is forced to get a job, with Levi as his boss. Not being able to ignore the younger boy's looks, Levi tend to let his mind wander off, imagining scenarios with Eren involved. Little does he know that Eren has a very special ability ...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The New Kid

Brat.

I put down the paper, and looked at my watch again.

He was late. And I hated when people wasted my time.

Yet it seemed like I was having a hard time concentrating anyway, so I stood up, and went around the desk. I leaned against it, crossing my arms over my chest and stared at the door.

If he was going to waste my time, then I was going to make him regret even coming.

Not long after, did somebody knock on my door.

"Come in,"

The boy almost stumbled inside, panting.

"Ah, boss. I'm sorry for being late … "

He probably ran all the way here. Too bad I didn't care.

He raised his head, and froze when he met my gaze. I knew what kind of effect I could have on people, and I certainly enjoyed taking advantage of that from time to time.

The boy bit his lip and didn't move another muscle. I looked at him, noticing every single piece of him. He looked like every other teenager, with a loose t-shirt and dark, tight pants. His hair was messy, but it worked in his favor. He was handsome indeed, the only problem was his attitude. And the smell.

I wrinkled my nose, and coughed a but.

"Take a seat, boy," I said in a cold tone, irritated over the smell of sweat. I gave myself a mental note to clean the chair afterwards and open the windows.

He sat down on the chair next to the desk, so he was forced to look up at me. I liked it better that way, or else the roles would have been reversed.

"So … "

The boy looked nervous. fiddling with his thumbs.

Do I have to do everything myself? I thought annoyed, and it seemed as if the boy sunk his body lower into the chair, as if he wanted to disappear.

"Grab these, and get to work." I pointed at the stack of papers laying in front of him, before moving behind my desk again. He nodded and reached out to grab the papers. He then proceeded to stand up.

"Where the hell do you think you're going?" I raised a brow, and even though my tone was calm and collected, I had a furious look in my eyes.

"I-Im sorry boss, I just thought that … That I should work outside in the office … " He glanced shortly at the door, before looking back at me.

"Are you stupid? Sit down, brat."

He immediately sat down, yet he didn't do anything else.

What the hell is wrong with this boy?

I let out an annoyed sigh, before grabbing a pencil and starting to write something down on my own paper. I crossed my leg over the other, and leaned back in my comfortable chair, looking as if I was deeply buried in work.

"... boss?"

I could feel his eyes on me, yet I did not look back.

"You work here, where I can keep my eyes on you. This is the consequence when you are late, boy."

Utter silence. After af while I heard the rummaging of papers and the sound of scribbling.

After 40 minutes, my body started to ache from the position. I sat up straight in the chair, laying down the pencil in the process.

The boy was still working hard, consumed with focusing on the task he had been giving, and I raised an eyebrow when I realised that he was already over halfway done.

Impressive, I thought to myself, then allowing me to study him further. His eyes had a beautiful shade of golden brown, and his lips were plump and looking soft.

In this exact moment, the boy bit down his bottom lip, and my heart skipped half a beat.

Damn it, why did that have to look so sexy?

I cleared my voice, trying to distract myself.

"When your mother called, I only accepted it as a favor to her. Yet, I never actually got your name," I looked at him when he lifted his head, releasing his lip from his teeth in the process. The action eased me, and I felt comfortable again.

"Oh, I didn't even realise. I'm Eren Jeager," his lips stretched out in a smile, which revealed his white teeth. At that point, I couldn't release my eyes from his. It was almost like they sparkled with emotions, and I had to use all my strength to keep my face emotionless. It was so contagious, as if you almost couldn't help smiling when he was.

How annoying.

His smile disappeared a second after that, looking down at his papers again.

"And ... You're Levi Ackerman, right?"

"That's correct. I'll be your superior for the next couple of weeks," He had raised his eyes again, when I tilted my head a bit to the side. "So, can I hear the story?"

His brows furrowed, looking quite confused. It almost made him look ... Cute.

"The story?"

"Yes, the story. You know, of why you are here right know?"

It was hard to stay irritated when I looked at him, yet I still tried my best.

"Oh," His cheeks coloured up, and he let out a short laugh. "It's my mothers way of punishing me. I said some rather disturbing things to her boyfriend, which made him leave ... That's why I'm here. She's alone now because of me, so she wanted me to be separated from my own social life as well,"

He shrugged his shoulders, as if it was no big deal. I instantly knew that there was more to the story than that, but I didn't want to push the boy.

It did sound odd, though I felt rather intrigued. I wanted to know whatever he was hiding. Was that normal? I normally didn't care for other people. Why was he the exception to that?

I cleared my throat again, realising that I had started fiddling with my thumbs. How annoying. He was already giving me bad habits.

"Aha," Was the only thing I could think of as an answer, and after that there was only silence. We were just sitting, staring at eachother. It felt as if tension was starting to built up between us, and when he started biting his bottom lip again, it was as if he challenged me.

"Get back to work," I said quickly, and then turned around my chair, so that I was facing the windows instead of him. This time, I was annoyed with myself.

What the hell is this? Why is he affecting me this way? Better yet, why am I letting him?

I felt my face getting flustered, and it made me wait at least 10 minutes before turning the chair back around again. I wouldn't risk him seeing that he had had that affect on me.

When I faced him again, he had leaned back in his own chair, with his fingers intertwined on his stomach. He clearly had been waiting for me to turn around again, waiting for his next task.

"You're already finished?" I asked with a raised eyebrow, looking rather baffled at the stack of papers.

"Yes ... Boss,"

Was he taunting me? I grabbed the stack, quickly looking through it. Every form had been filled out.

"I guess that's it for today then," I mumbled, still baffled with the boy's efficient work ethics.

Now it was his turn to look surprised.

"Really? I ... Can go home?" His eyes flickered just for a moment, but I managed to notice it.

"Unless you want more work?" I crossed my arms with an annoyed look.

I wanted to go home as well at this point, maybe take a bath. But I first had to clean out this place. I was convinced that the smell of sweat had had an impact on every single object inside a 2 meters radius of the boy. The thought almost gave me shivers.

"Oh, that's not necessary," Eren grinned as he quickly stood up. He grabbed his backpack that stood leaned up against the couch, and then looked in my direction.

"Come again tomorrow, and this time don't be late. You hear me?"

He nodded.

"Good ... And Eren,"

His whole body turned to face me when I said his name, and I realised that he had probably been waiting for me this whole time to say it.

"Take a bath everytime before you come into my office again. You smell horrible,"

My voice was probably a little too stern and cold, but I wanted to get the message bright and clear into his head. "Don't even consider showing up smelling like that again, or you will be fired."

He nodded again, this time a bit less eager, and then turned around to walk out.

I tried looking away, but at that moment, my eyes caught something entirely different that I definitely not should be looking at. I swallowed, cursing the maker of thight pants.

This boy was so unbelievable hot, and those pants did indeed contribute to that fact. At that moment I let myself indulge, letting my mind wonder off ... I imagined my hands gliding down from his naked back, letting my fingers squeeze his round behind, hearing him moan into my ear ...

When I looked up again, Eren was still standing in the doorway. All colour had been drained from his face as if he had just seen a ghost, yet he was looking directly at me.

"What?!" I snapped after him, which made him jump a little.

"N-nothing ... I'll see you tomorrow!" He quickly answered, before closing the door behind him, hurrying out of there.

Had my face revealed what my mind had been thinking?

I felt my cheeks blush, but ended up pushing the embarrasment aside quickly, so that my mind could sink into the scenario yet again ...


	2. Tight Pants

The huge dilemma over which pants to wear, had made me late. Again.

It all started after having taken the bath that Levi had instructed me to. I had soaked my whole body in, scrubbing the skin on my arm until it became red. I didn't know why, but had suddenly felt important to make sure that I was absolutely clean.

I did not want to let my new boss down.

This left me with very little time to dress afterwards, which would normally be fine. I usually just threw something on before going out, but this had again seemed like something very important. Yesterday I had felt Levi stare at me, and not just an ordinary stare.

It had felt like he was undressing me with just his eyes, not even to mention the thoughts ... I swallowed a lump in my throat, and looked at the thight, black pants. They were my favorite pair, but ... I wasn't sure that I would be able to focus on work, if he kept looking at me like that.

Still ... The feeling kinda excited me. It gave me a feeling of power, as if I was in such position to have it.

I almost choked on my own laughter, as I reached out to grab a similar pair of pants.

What could go wrong?

\- - - - -

"Take a seat,"

He didn't even look at me, when I came into his office. I couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed when I sat down in front of him.

I had worked here for almost a week now, and it had become a ordinary routine for me to stay with my boss while I went through my tasks. It was the same forms I had to fill out, but that didn't make the day boring. My boss's daydreaming made it all worth it, and every day it got even worse.

Oh well, the good kind of worse.

"You know what to do," He mumbled, and I nodded even though I knew that he couldn't see it.

"Yes boss,"

My mind was already absorbed into the life of boring numbers, and the time flew by quicker than expected.

_... Skin against skin ... Just the lightest touch made him whimper ..._

I bit down on my bottom lip, as the thoughts flooded my entire head, filling me with emotions that wasn't really mine. The words merged and became pictures, and I had to close my eyes, not able to focus on work anymore.

It was as if I felt Levi touch my own skin, even though I knew that was far from true. How letting his delicate, small fingers run all over my body, and his lips ... Oh god, his lips. They were everywhere.

_His moans became louder, and I did nothing to stop it, far from it. I let my tongue run over his nipple that have become hard, before letting my lips suck on them. I felt his body shaking of pleasure, and ..._

Shit.

I opened my eyes, and as a reflex my hands automatically covered the part of my body that had suddenly chosen to wake up.

"Oh god..." When I spoke the words, I noticed how out of breath I had become, and it seemed like I wasn't the only one noticing.

"What is it?"

The older man looked directly at me, and I felt my cheeks blush.

"N-nothing, I ... I just need to take a leak," I mumbled the words nervously, as I felt how quickly the atmosphere had turned awkward. Did he know?

I forced myself to meet his eyes, a look that clearly showed how annoyed he was. But then again, he was always annoyed. As I looked more closely, I noticed how his eyes flickered, and how his own cheeks had a lighter shade of pink.

Yet, this could mean just about anything. Though, it was his thoughts to begin with ...

Christ. Was he just as turned on as I was?

"You just had a break," Was the only thing he said, before looking down at his papers again.

What?

I felt how I became a little annoyed myself. He was the one who made me feel this way, and yet showing no signs himself? He was the one with the filthy thoughts, not me!

I made me hands into fists, looking at him furiously. He looked up at me again, with a raised eyebrow, as if challenging me to do something. Anything.

I was just about to open my mouth, when he interrupted me.  
"Don't fucking waste my time. Get back to work, brat."

My hands slowly became loose again, as if all anger had left my body. It didn't have, however I had just realised that I didn't stand a chance against Levi. He had the power, not me. He was the one in charge.

My superior.

"... Yes boss,"

His thoughts didn't return, thankfully, and instead I focused on dead puppies and my grandmothers wrinkles until the bulge in my pants had succesfully disappeared.

\- - - - -

"Can I ... " His quick stare had silenced my sentence for a second. Just me, talking, seemed to irritate him today. "I was wondering if I could ... If I might be allowed to sit outside your office today?"

His eyebrow raised a centimeter or two. That was a bad sign.

"No,"

Silence. He had gone back to work immediately after rejecting me, but I couldn't give up so easily. I wouldn't. But my boss clearly couldn't listen to reason, so I had to try other methods.

It had been a couple of days after the incident, and I didn't want to relive that again.

"Boss ... Please,"

I took a step closer, biting my bottom lip. I looked at him with large eyes, looking rather desperate.

_Damn brat. Why does he always have to look so ... so ..._

It was clearly working. And how ironic. So ironic that I exploited his thoughts, when they where the ones that I was trying to escape from.

"Fine. Get out of here,"

He waved his hand, annoyed. I couldn't help myself from sending him a big smile, before walking out of the door with quick steps.

_Is ... avoiding ... eh?_

His thoughts became blurry already, and with a sigh I sat down at the table that stood furthest from Levi's office.

Finally peace and quiet.

_Damn, my wife is going to freak out ... Did I forget to turn off the lights? ... Sandra looks really good today ... Where are my papers?_

All the thoughts came like a storm, raveling my brain, making me groan annoyed. I put my hands onto my head, focusing on making all of them disappear from my head one by one. I succeeded, but first after a couple of minutes. It had become so easy to shut them all out.

I still remember the horrible memories as a kid, never understanding the difference between people talking and thinking. Sometimes, when I made a mistake, and answered a question they had asked in their own head, it freaked them out too much. I quickly became an outcast.

I sighed.

Thank god, we moved. My life would probably have been much different, if I still lived in a town, where I was only known as 'The Freak'.

I looked at the people around me, happy to just be able to ... Be there. Without knowing every little detail about their lives.

So ... Why was it different with Levi?

I bit my lip when I looked at the closed door, leading into his office. Why didn't I shut him out just like I did with everybody else?

There had been so many others before him, thinking about my body in disgusting, filthy ways ... They had made me want to puke.

But with Levi, it was somehow different. Was it because we were of the same gender? Because he was older? Because he was my superior?

Sure, it was nice to know that your boss didn't hate you as much as you first would have thought, but ... No, that wasn't it. It was something else. I just couldn't put my finger on it. But I knew that I wanted to find out.

One way or the other.


	3. The First Touch

The punishment, as his mother had called it, was only supposed to have lasted 2 weeks. Every week day after school, and today it was thursday. The second week was almost up, just when I had started to get comfortable with him being here.

Okay, so I had let myself indulged into dirty daydreams about the boy, which was very unprofessional, but I had taken control after that monday, where the boy had asked to not sit with me in my office. That was when I realised how crazy it really was. I was 10 years older than the boy, who was still stuck in college. The only reason he was even here, was because he had thrown a tantrum with his mother, for crying out loud.

After all, He was just a kid.

I had suddenly felt like some kind of sexual perpetrator, taking advantage of the boy, which was wrong in, god, so many many ways.

He had gone back to sit with me the day after that, but I had forced myself not to have any thoughts after all after that. He had seemed on edge, being nervous and acting weird, and we had suddenly gone to have one of those ordinary working relationship again, as it had been supposed to be like right from the start. Me being annoyed, and him acting like the nervous teenager that he was.

Surprisingly enough, that had become more humorous to me than annoying, but of course I wouldn't let him know that. I just kept with my cold exterior, and he kept being absent-minded.

That's why it had come as quite a shock, when he had asked for more work that night.

"Alright ... " I had said, hesitant, unsure of why he was willing to do more, but I surely wasn't going to reject that request.

So we had kept on working, until closing time. When I finally looked up from my desk, the clock was way past 10, and everybody had already gone home.

Eren was laying on the couch, sleeping, with a paper stuck on his forehead. I chuckled, amused over how silly he looked, laying there covered in papers.

The moment was quickly over, though, as the obsessive cleaner inside of me took over and I walked over to the boy. It was rather easy to remove the papers from his body, and it didn't seem like he noticed.

"He must have been tired ..." I mumbled to myself, not even realising that I had said it out loud. I sat on the edge of the couch, and leaned in over him to grab the last paper from his head.

"B-boss?"

He blinked, his vision still blurred from sleeping, which gave me more than enough time to stand up and walk away.

Only problem was, I didn't.

He was staring at me with a confused look, as if he wasn't sure where he was.

"Hey," I didn't smile, even though I suddenly felt like doing it. "So you're finally awake. You wanted to work more, yet you just end up slacking off instead? Wasting my fucking time..."

I wanted to say something nice to him, but instead this hateful comment came out through my mouth.

_Shit. Why do I always do that? I know he works hard, yet I'm still being an ass._

He blinked again, not answering, and then a smile spread across his face. I stared at him in complete astonishment. How could he be smiling after that comment?

What the fuck?

"I'm sorry, boss. It won't happen again,"

My eyes got smaller, as I looked suspiciously at him. What was he trying to accomplice, being this nice? Why wasn't he affected by me being mean?

"You bet it won't. Tomorrow is your last day here, remember?"

A struck of disappointment hit his face, and he did nothing to hide it. Neither did I do anything, which caused us to just sit there, on the couch, waiting in silence. Our eyes where locked together as Eren sat up, so he could straighten his back. 

_There's suddenly so much tension in the air,_ I thought to myself, and it was the truth. It was as if both of us expected something to happen, and I knew what it was that I was thinking about ... But did he share the same thoughts?

_Shit. I wanna kiss him._

My office was covered in darkness, and only little light came from the big windows behind my desk. Yet, I could still see every detail on Erens face, and his lips looked so freaking soft. I started doubting if Eren really always had looked so damn good. Was it normal for teenagers his age to be so damn attractive?

I suddenly felt like a old pervert. When I looked at him I saw beauty, but what happened when he looked at me? Did he just se an old man? Sure, I was fit and I didn't have any wrinkles, but still ... He must have noticed the age difference.

So consumed in my own thoughts, I didn't even notice how dangerously close my face had suddenly become with Erens. The boy was still looking at me, yet there was something different. His left corner of his mouth was turned up in a smirk.

Why the hell was he smiling at me like that?

I didn't really have time to think of an answer.

"Levi ... " Eren whispered my name through those damn lips of his, making me bite the inside of my cheek, just to stop me from doing something stupid.

"Stop thinking. Just do it,"

His voice was unexpected low and serious, and I looked at him in surprise. This was not the innocent, little boy I had known before.

I don't know if that was what made it okay, but before I could start to think of anything else, he had already grabbed my collar and yanked me forward.

Our lips met, and there was fire immeditiately. He had already turned his head to the side, making as little space for our mouths as possible, so he could open my mouth. I had already beat him to it though, pressing my tongue inside his mouth, and he moaned into mine as we fought for dominance.

I won.

_ _ _ _ _

The older males hands were suddenly everywhere, and the fire spread. I pressed my upper body against his, and it was now his turn to let out a moan. My fingers found the bottom of his shirt, and they crawled under it, so I could feel his cold skin against mine. I instantly felt how fit he really was, and I couldn't contain myself from letting my fingers slide over his hard abs.

 _He is so fucking hot!_ I thought, as my fingers went upwards to his nipples. I started caressing them gently, which resulted in more moans and groans from Levi.

Our lips finally departed, and as I was gasping for air, he had already moved on to kissing, sucking and licking my neck.

After that, my mind started getting blurred. I doze off in the pleasure, just enjoying the moment while it lasted. Then his lips found mine again, and I woke up.

In one quick motion, I found myself sitting in his lap, my knees on both his hips' sides, supporting my weight on him. And then my hands opened his and my own pants, and I felt how they became loose in an instant. Levi's hands where moving from my hips to my lower back, but I kinda got the gist of it.

"Come on," I moaned, pressing my body against his. "You know you want to..." I teased him, starting to move my hips and ass around, while I purred like a cat.

I instantly saw the lust in his eyes, that said that he didn't need to be told twice. I felt as his small hands slided down under my underwear, and squeezed my ass thightly. I gasped for a second, even more turned on than before, yet still blushing a crimson colour.

His hands, still on my ass, started pushing me forward gently, causing friction, which made me groan loudly. The sound made me slap a hand over my mouth of embarassment, but Levi just smirked at me.

"Damn it, you're hot ... " He mumbled, and started pushing again. He didn't have to though, because I had already started rubbing my lower body against his on my own. The friction was so intense for me, that I pressed my mouth against his, just to lower the loud sounds coming from me.

I pushed him back into the cushion a bit violent, but none of us even noticed. If this kept on going, I wouldn't be able to ...

"Ah! L-Levi - " I gasped for air, moaning, yet I couldn't detach my eyes from his. His dark eyes bored into mine, forcing me to let him watch my face as I came.

"Ahh!"

I rested my forehead on his collarbone when it was after, as I was still panting, desperate for more air. It felt as if I had been drained of it, as if Levi had sucked it all out of me.

"Oi, brat. You came just after that?"

My head jolted up in surprise, and I looked at him with confusion.

"Are you mocking me?" I asked, and I started to feel the humiliation roll in over me.

Levi must have noticed that, because he quickly threw me down on my back, and crawled on top of me.

"I just meant, that we would have to practice then," He almost mumbled the answer, as his lips where pressing down several places on my body, leaving marks.

I bit my lip as the relief rushed over me. And then the anticipation.

"Oh ... Well then," I reached down to grab the man's pants, but in the same moment he pulled away. Suddenly he was standing up, buttoning his shirt. He looked down on me, grinning.

"Don't be so eager, brat." He said, closing his zipper. "You should go home, and get yourself cleaned up. You have af long day ahead of yourself tomorrow,"


	4. No Appearance

So that was a big fat bag of nopes.

I ran up the stairs, trying to escape the woman chasing me. She grabbed my wrist, stopping me from getting any further.

"Let me go!" I screamed, trying to yank myself free.

"Will you just stop and listen, for one second?" She asked with a tone filled with annoyance and anger, looking at me with that look. "Baby, please ... "

I stopped when I heard the softness in her tone, turning around to look at her. Her forehead were filled with wrinkles, but it wasn't filled with worry. It was filled with something else ... Something bittersweet.

"Why him? Of all people, WHY HIM?!" The tears ran down my face, causing my vision to blur.

"Baby, he's the only one who cares about me – who really understands!"

I finally yanked myself free, the fear and anger filling me up inside.

"You have no idea, do you?" I whispered, putting a hand over my mouth to lower the gasping sounds.

"You're sick, mom. Sick,"

With that, I turned around once again to run upstairs, fighting to hold the tears back.

\- - - - - 

It was Erens last day, yet he was over 30 minutes late. I tapped my foot down impatiently, crossing my arms over my chest.

Damn brat. What had happened yesterday had sent me into a swirl of emotions, and I wasn't sure what to make of it. He had been so irresistible yesterday, and it had just been too tempting not to stop it.

Of course it had been Eren who had initiated it, but I had no objections to it once it started.

What was it, that I had said? Something about practicing? Shit. I had probably sent his hopes up, because the more I thought about it, the more wrong it became. We shouldn't be doing any practicing at all. 

Thank god, that it was the boy's last day. Then, the constant temptation would be removed, and I could go on with my life.

I licked my upper lip, and sighed.

I didn't think I would even be able to resist Eren after yesterday, so maybe it would be for the better that he didn't show up after all.

Or ... Was the reason behind him not showing up, that he had regretted the incident? That Eren had felt so disgusted with the whole thing that he couldn't even look at me after that?

I felt a lump in my throat, and my heart skipped af beat.

I wouldn't be able to blame him, though. I looked at the couch, and the memories came rushing back. The lump in my throat grew bigger.

I swallowed, and then grabbed my coat from the hanger. I rushed through the door, almost running through the rest of the office.

I wasn't able to stay in there for the rest of the day anyways.

I went to my car in the basement parking lot, and it didn't take long before I was out on the streets. I was on no hurry to go anywhere, so I ended up just driving around.

After 30 minutes, I ended up stopping the car at another random park, just sitting and looking out at the people walking around. It was nice at first, but a knot in my stomach quickly appeared. I was literally just reminding myself how alone I really was, looking at the happy families, friends and lovers walking around with eachother.

Of course there was also people walking around alone, looking just as alone as I was feeling ...

What?

I sat up more straight, surprised and confused at the same time. I actually recognised that person.

I quickly jumped out of the car, running towards him a bit too fast.

"Hey!"

I striked down, hitting him hard on the shoulder with a clenched fist to get his attention.

"You little shit, walking around the park when you're supposed to be at work with me!"

He looked up, quickly trying to defend his shoulder from being hit again. He clearly didn't see it coming, meeting me here of all places.

"B-boss?" He looked at me in utter shock, biting down his bottom lip. I looked at him angrily, until I finally noticed his red eyes.

Had he been crying? Was that the reason why he hadn't shown up to work?

"Hey ..." I mumbled, trying to reach out to him, but he quickly stepped back, probably afraid that I'd hit him again.

"Eren, are you okay?"

I looked at him with pleading eyes, suddenly feeling absolutely horrible about hitting the boy.

"Eren,"

He looks so lost. What happened to him? I grabbed his wrist, pulling him closer.

 _I just wanna hug him. What can I do to make him feel better? I don't want him to look so sad ..._ I didn't do anything of the sorts, just standing there looking at him. Of course I didn't notice that I hadn't let go of his wrist either.

He sniffed, trying to look neutral, but couldn't help but smile in the end. 

"I'm fine," He mumbled, looking directly at me, with a confused look. "But, um ... What are you doing here, boss?"

I looked around, suddenly realising how weird this must be looking.

_Oh god. He probably think I was stalking him._

I released his wrist, and now it was my time to take a step back.

"Uhm, I wasn't feeling so good. I needed some air,"

He still had a geniune smile on his face, looking at me with nothing but interest.

"Why are _you_ ... here?" I was definitely curious as to why the hell he was at the park instead of at the office or his own home. "Did something happen?"

He looked down as his shoulders started to tremble mildly, clearly trying to hide that he had started crying again.

"N-no, it's nothing ..."

Of course that wasn't true, but I wasn't about to ask. Instead I just stood there, rather awkward, waiting for him to be finished. I was so bad with people crying.

"Eren..."

Only 2 seconds after pronouncing his name, he leaned forward, wrapping his arms around my neck. Too shocked to do anything else, I ended up wrapping my arms around his waist, the only way I knew how to comfort him.

"Hey ... It's okay, Eren. It's okay, don't worry," I could feel him hiding his face into my neck, his warm breath against my skin.

We just stood there, hugging eachother tightly for a couple of minutes, before he finally teared his body away from mine.

"This is so embarrassing," He mumbled, trying to quickly remove the tears from his cheeks.

"Then let's go,"

I laid a hand on his back, showing him the way to my car. It wasn't more than a 10 minutes drive, before we arrived at my apartment.

I showed him where the bathroom was, and after that he just closed to door and stayed in there. While waiting for him to come out, I made some coffee, before I sat down on the couch. It was starting to get dark, I noticed while looking out of the window. The sun had started to go down, leaving beautiful colours in the sky behind. Enjoying the view, I didn't even notice the door opening behind me. While taking a sip of my coffee, something suddenly touched my hair, and I spit out the warm liquid in surprise. It was spilled all over my newly-washed shirt, and with an annoyed grunt I stood up, leaving the coffee cup on the table.

"Jesus Christ, you almost gave me a heartattack!" I yelled, turning around to judge him with my eyes. He looked better now, his eyes no longer red, so I decided not to go easy on him. "Look what you did – For fuck sake, I bought this only last week!"

His cheeks started to blush, and he looked down, ashamed.

"I-I'm sorry, boss, but you had something ... In your hair," He lifted his hand and revealed a piece of leaf in between his fingers.

I grunted in response, not accepting the reason, and went into the bathroom to throw to dirty cloth into the basket of other dirty clothes. I gave myself a mental note of doing laundry after Eren went home.

I walked out into the living room again, running my fingers through my hair.

"So, do you want something to eat? Some coffee, maybe?"

Eren didn't answer. He just stared at me, as if I was crazy.

It took me a few seconds of silence to understand, that I was the reason. I had forgotten to put on another shirt, and was now standing half-naked, showing my upper body. It wasn't that I didn't mind showing my body, but the way he was staring at me ...

"Oi!" I snapped at him, which clearly did the trick. He blinked a few seconds, before directing his eyes up to mine. "Stop looking at me like that, and make up your mind. Food or coffee?"

I sounded annoyed, but that was far from the truth. I liked it. Him looking at me like that.

"C-Coffee," He mumbled, clearly not really caring.

I brought him a mug filled with the hot liquid, before sitting down on the couch again, crossing the left leg over the other.

"Oi, brat. Sit down, for god's sake. This isn't a prison. You can make yourself a little more comfortable,"

He had just been standing there, looking like a damn fool, as if he hadn't known what to do. When I finished my sentence, he had rushed to sit down beside me. Maybe a little too close, but hell, I didn't really care.

The minutes went by quickly, and we were suddenly just sitting there, with empty mugs on the table. Eren had pulled his legs up to his chest, with arms around them, and he had slowly been leaning his head against my shoulder, as if he was testing if it was safe. I didn't move a muscle, not showing if it was okay or if it wasn't. I wanted to seem like he didn't had any influence on me, even though that was far from true. My heart started beating faster when I could feel his warmth against my skin, even if it was only my arm. That was also the moment I realised, that I was actually freezing.

As if he had heard my thoughts, he leaned closer against me. I tried stopping myself from shivering.

"Hey," He whispered softly, and for the second time today, I felt his warm breath on my skin. This certainly did not help the 'trying not to shiver'-part. "We should probably talk about ... You know, what happened ..." His voice slowly died away, and I furrowed my brows. Was he talking about yesterday's incident, or the one at the park?

"... Yesterday," he quickly added.

I turned my head to look down at him, while remembering what I had been thinking.

_... I don't think I would even be able to resist Eren after yesterday, so maybe it would be for the better that he didn't show up after all ..._

_... Was the reason behind him not showing up, that he had regretted the incident? That Eren had felt so disgusted with the whole thing that he couldn't even look at me after that? ..._

The thought made me rethink the whole situation again. Eren had been crying when I'd met him at the park. Maybe just the thought of showing up for work had scared him so much, that he just couldn't handle it? Seeing me afterwards, he must have been so embarrassed. Being forced into my apartment like this ... Even after he felt disgusted with the thought of an older man ... He was probably only sitting like this, because I had taken my shirt off. Damn it.

"Stop it!"

It took me a few seconds to comprehend what had just happened. The pain started after that, spreading like fire across my left cheek.

Eren had ... hit me?

I looked at him with big eyes, too shocked to form words. He was sitting on his knees now, pressing his hands on both my shoulders, pushing me into the cushion behind me.

"I was crying because of my mother, not because I didn't want to see you again. I ... I wanted to see you again," He stopped to bite his lip, not sure if he should continue. "And I wanted to be with you again. To feel you touch me ..." His breath was too irregular to speak properly, and mine had become like that as well.

How did he know ...

I didn't even have time to think before his hands started sliding up and down my bare chest. When his mouth started kissing my neck, I couldn't do anything else than just sit there, focusing on every touch. His kisses moved slowly, but surely, towards my mouth, and when our lips met, everything changed. It was first then, that I realized it. I pushed him away, gently, but firmly.

"So you're saying ... You want me?"

I needed to be sure. I didn't, no – I couldn't go any further without being sure.

"Y-yes," He gasped, surprised at the sudden push. He became even more surprised when I removed myself from the couch, grabbing him by the wrist and started pulling him away.

"B-boss, what you are ... "

"My name is Levi," I said abruptly, stopping him from saying anything else. I walked into the bedroom with him stumbling behind me. I threw him down on the bed, not waiting for him to do anything. He looked up at me, his eyes mixed with fear and astonishment. I had probably been a little too rough.

"Say it," I said, my voiced filled with dominance. He was just looked at me, even more confused than before.

"W-what ... ?"

His face was flustered, as he lay there. His elbows held some of his body up, while there was a large space between his legs. I put my knees up on the bed, making me able to lean in over to hover over his body. "My name. Say it," My face was now dangerously close to his, but that didn't stop me in any way. I saw his expression change when he realised what I meant.

" ... Levi," He stuttered.

I licked my lips, humming quite loudly.

"Mmmh ..." I mumbled, while starting to kiss his neck. "Again,"

"A-ah ... Levi!" He gasped. Not able to hold himself up anymore, he removed his elbows from the bed so he could grab my hips instead. I pressed my body against his, and he moaned by the touch.

"Levi ... Levi, Levi!" His voice was slighty raised now, but I didn't mind. I let my fingers slide down, cupping the bulge in his pants.

"Mmmh ... Yes?" My lips met his, and there was no taking it slow anymore. I turned my head to the side, pressing my tongue against his lips to separate them. I gently started rubbing my hand against his pants, causing him to moan into my mouth. After only a few seconds I had to pull away to let the boy gasp for air.

"D-don't stop," He said, trying not to sound so aroused.

He failed.

But I didn't stop. My other hand had pulled up his shirt to expose his nipples, that had already become hard. My hand started teasing his right nipple, while my mouth started sucking on the other. This made Eren a complete mess under me, moaning og gasping for air. I could hear him trying to say something, but the words drowned in the loud noises that he was making.

His hand suddenly grabbed mine, removing it from his pants.

I stopped what I was doing to look at him.

"Don't... Don't just make me feel good," He finally said, after catching his breath again.

I raised an eyebrow, probably with a surprised look on my face.

"I don't think you're ready for that yet,"

Eren didn't even hesitate – he raised his legs up, and wrapped them around my waist.

"Then make me ready," He bit down on his bottom lip, looking right at me with his big, golden eyes. I could see the lust and determination shining out of them, as he grabbed my belt.

Now, how was anyone supposed to be able to resist that?


	5. Is This Love?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yeah ... This is just plain, shameless smut.

I was probably guilty of having double standards, but I couldn't be affected by those thoughts right know. I had to make Levi look away while taking off the rest of my clothes, but I hadn't been able to look away from him when he started stripping. He had the most incredible body that I'd ever seen, and he was more than satisfied letting me watch him. He removed every piece of clothing slowly, and everytime it revealed more of his beautiful, sexy body that I had never seen before.

I, myself, was just laying on the bed, admiring his body, anxious to have the feeling of his skin touching mine again. I was trapped between wanting to stare at him stripping, and wanting him to get over to me as quick as possible, just so that he would be close to me yet again.

I reminded myself to breathe, when he was finally done. Standing in front of me, fully naked, I let out a loud gasp. As a reflex, I pulled myself in the wrong direction, away from him, to the other edge of the bed.  
"Eh?!" I sat up, still holding on tight to the sheets beneath me.

"What?"

He looked at me with a the most sexy stare, pressing his bottom lip a little out, just enough to make him seem like he was pouting. He sat on the bed, and started crawling on all four towards me.

"Don't tell me ... You're scared?"

He raised his eyebrow, challenging me, before grabbing the back of my knees. He pulled me back to him in one quick motion, and it felt like all air had left my body when my member touched his, causing friction. I let out a loud gasp, filled with a mix of astonishment and pleasure.

"I-I'm not scared!" I mumbled, grabbing his muscular upper arms as he was suddenly hovering over me.

Some of his hair was covering his face, but it didn't hide it completely either. He looked so ... Aroused. I bit my bottom lip, when I felt my face turn red.

"You can just stop me, if you don't want me to ... " He whispered, but the tone in his voice made his intentions clear. He wouldn't stop, but then again, I wouldn't want him to either. It was already too late to say no now, even if we wanted to.

"L-Levi ... " I moaned his name when he started teasing my nipples again, this time a bit more rough than before. The balance between pain and pleasure overflooded me, and my brain ended upjust going numb.

Another hand was suddenly pressing our erections together, letting it slide up and down in slow motions.

I felt helpless as I just laid there, a moaning mess, letting him torment my body like this. Even though it felt good, I could feel as if something was missing. I intentionally knew what it was, I was just too afraid to think it out loud. It was almost too embarrassing.

I knew he was thinking the same thing as me, since he shortly after left his hands from my body, releasing my body from the constant teasing. Because that was what it was in the end, just teasing.

_This is really happening, isn't it?_

Something suddenly poked my lips, and I looked down, confused.

"Put them in your mouth," He commanded me, not giving me a choice. I didn't even hesitate when I let my mouth embrace his two fingers, letting my tongue slide all over them.

_Fuck, he looks hot when he does that._

I heard Levi's thoughts for the first time since we had started, and it gave me the confidence to keep going, starting to suck on them slightly more than before. I didn't break the eye contact with Levi, not even once. After a minute, he pulled the fingers out.

"Alright,"

I couldn't do anything else than just lay and watch him while he reached down to my entrance with his wet fingers. His other hand had grabbed my right leg, pressing it up against my chest, giving him more space and a view. The thought almost me made want to hide in embarrasment, but I forced myself to keep looking.

"Ah - !"

The feeling was strange, but luckily not painful. He had pressed one finger in, slowly moving back and forth to test my reaction. I had thought that my cheeks couldn't get redder and warmer, but clearly I was wrong. This was NOT the time to get shy, yet that was exactly what I now was.

"Are you okay?" Levi asked, and I noticed that his voice was filled with genuine concern.

"I'm fine... K-Keep going," I said, the sound muffled by the hand that I was pressing against my mouth. "It feels like m – ahh!" The second finger was in now, and it started moving a bit quicker.

"Shit, L-Levi! You could have warned me ... " His face was suddenly close again, stopping me from saying anything further.

"Yeah, but where would the fun be in that?" He said with a teasing tone, before pressing his lips against mine. His mouth coaxed mine open, and pressing his tongue in shortly after. We stayed like that for a moment, until I pulled back, breathless.

"Sadistic bastard," I mumbled, which just made him laugh.

"Stupid brat," He whispered, starting to bite my ear. It gave me the chills, making me wrap my body around his shoulders.

All caught up in the pleasure, I didn't even realise that he had pulled his fingers out, before something bigger was pressing against my entrance.

_I need him. Now,_ Levi thought.

Not able to react fast enough, he thrusted himself into me, causing me to let out a load groan. I wasn't even sure myself, if it was because of the pain or the pleasure.

My nails bored into his back, and my face that had been close to his neck, ended up biting into his skin to stop the sounds coming out of my mouth.

"S-shit, Eren,"

He didn't stop though. I felt his whole body trembling, pulling a little out just so he could thrust back in once more. This was a movement that he kept repeating relentlessly.

With it, I threw my head back, staring up in the ceiling, though not really being able to see anything.

"Don't – "

I was breathing so heavily, that I wasn't able to even make out a complete sentence. He started thrusting again, this time not taking a break after every move. He started moving constantly now, not giving me time enough to prepare.

_He is so tight, shit. I can't ..._ Levi's thoughts was almost just a blur inside my already messed up brain, and I wasn't able to focus on it anymore.

He pressing his bare chest completely against mine, and put his arms in under my back. He then grabbed my shoulders, so he had better control of his movements. Yet, I could still feel him shaking against me.

The new movements was trying to adjust, and that was when I felt _it._

"Fuck!" I groaned, when my back started aching and I felt like there wasn't enough oxygen going to my brain.

"F-fuck, Levi! Don't ..." I let out a loud moan, before being able to continue again. "... Don't stop!"

Levi just growled into my ear as an answer, too breathless to actually answer. He just kept panting, and then making his thrusts quicker and harder.

"Ah, ah – ahh!" Was the only sound that I could let out now. I wanted to say something else, something more, but I couldn't think straight anymore. He had hit my prostate, the spot that made every inch of my body on fire. There was no more pain anymore, only pleasure. The new sensation made me want to cry out, but I couldn't. I couldn't do anything than just be under Levi's mercy.

"Eren," He moaned, letting go of one of my shoulders. His hand drifted away, down, and reached my erection. He started stroking it firmly, and soon it was at the same pace as his other movements.

_I can't ... Hold it ... Anymore ..._

I didn't even know if it was my thoughts or his anymore.

"Levi, I – "

I moaned loudly as I came, my body trembling in ecstasy, pressed against his.

"Just ... A little more ... " He groaned, as he kept thrusting almost erratically inside of me. His hands tightening around my shoulder and hip roughly, and I was filled up with him as he rode out his orgasm. I then felt his grip becoming weaker, until he finally released me. I whimpered as his member slipped out of me, and the cum followed soon after. My legs, that had been held up for so long, fell down onto the bed as Levi rolled down to lie besides me, on his back as well.

We just layed there, looking at the ceiling, while trying to catch our breaths.

At some point, I had mustered up the courage to grab his hand, letting my fingers intertwine with his. There had been no protest.

At that very moment, I felt whole.

Was this what love felt like?


	6. Broken

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Introduces a new character ... (drumroll) ... PETRA RAL! The lovely and gentle, ladies and gentlemen. Of course I made her a doctor. I thought that it fitted her personality well. Strong and fierce, yet still kind.

It hadn't been love.

Well, that was what I wanted to make myself believe.

We had been dating for a couple of weeks now, though that was only when we made it official. The two weeks after we had spent the first night together, had been messy and weird. There was really no other way to describe it. It was actually still messy and weird, but at least I could say that we were a couple now.

Yeah, at least I had that.

"Oi, brat. Are you finished with this?"

He was pointing at a glass half-filled with orange juice that was placed on the table in front of me. I put down the magazine that I had been reading, to look at him.

"Are you serious? No, of course not. I only poured, like, it 10 minutes ago," I said with a blank face expression. I knew he would be annoyed, but I didn't know that he would actually hit me. It was a mild slap at the back of my head, though I still pretended that it hurt more than it did.

"That's 9 minutes too long. And don't get all sassy with me, brat." He pushed to glass closer to me. "Drink it,"

I looked at the glass of juice, not really wanting it anymore. I didn't want him to have the satisfaction of being right, though ...

"I don't want it right now. Later,"

He sighed, then grabbing the glass and walking away too quickly for me to react in time.

"Hey!" I yelled, a bit frustrated. I jumped up from the chair, chasing after him into the kitchen. "Give it back!"

He quickly put the glass down in the sink, and then turning around to block my way.

"You can't just take it, I wasn't done with it!" I stopped right in front of him, not sure what my next move would be.

"You're such a brat, pouring something, and then not drinking it. I bought that juice with my own money, so actually I can do whatever I want with it,"

That shut me up, but of course he just had to add an extra comment. "Besides, you said you didn't want it, so what's the big deal?"

I groaned in annoyance, facepalming myself.

"I didn't say that! I just didn't want it right now!"

There was a long pause, before Levi started laughing. It was rare to see him laugh so genuinely, but I was too irritated to fully enjoy it.

"Hey, don't mock me! I'm serious," I pushed him back, pouting like a little child. "You don't respect me at all,"

I didn't see it coming at all, but he had suddenly grabbed my hair, yanking my head down a bit. His face was so close that I could feel his hot breath against my skin. I grit my teeth, breathing heavily as well.  
"How can I, when you're just a little punk, who doesn't even now what you want. You're too young to be taken seriously,"

The last part he had mumbled under his breath, before pressing his mouth against mine, too roughly. I grabbed his shirt so that my knuckles ended up with a white colour, but I wasn't able to push him away again. So I just clung to him, letting him dominate me.

He pulled my head back a moment after, leaving me gasping for air.

"See? You don't even know if you should be turned on or angry right now," He smirked at me. "It's the hormones, I tell you."

He released me right after, so he could turn around and clean the glass.

I just stood there, staring into the back of his neck.

God, how could he annoy me this much, and still get me so turned on?

He was probably messing with me right now. Teasing me. Wasn't he? I tried tuning in on his thoughts, something that I rarely did.

_... Stupid brat, getting so worked up over a glass of juice. How can he look so ridiculously hot, when he's mad? I need to piss him off more often._

My cheeks started burning up, and I pulled back out of his head.

So he _was_ doing it on purpose. Probably because he liked dominating me. That was actually something that I had noticed. Levi always had to be in control – He always needed to have the last word as well, and he wouldn't let me do anything reckless. He was almost very possessive of me, but I kinda liked that about him. It made me feel liked I actually mattered to him. That I wasn't just a sex object to him, but something more. Of course, I could just read his mind to find out what he thought of me, but I didn't want to do that. Sometimes it was both a blessing and a curse to have such an ability. And I was sure that Levi would kill me if he ever found out. The thing with him liking to have control, probably also meant that he didn't want his boyfriend snooping around inside his head, leaving him with no privacy whatsoever.

The thought gave me a really bad concience. Sometimes my mind just listened on its own. I could only close everything out if I was concentrating, and sometimes I just didn't have the strength to do so.

I left the kitchen only to end up lying on the sofa in front of the TV. It was turned off, so I just lay there, covering my face with my arms. I could hear Levi rummaging in the kitchen.

Probably cleaning. As always, I thought to myself, rolling my eyes.

"Oi, brat, why did you h – Shit!"

A loud noise and Levi letting out a cry made me jump up from the sofa. I turned around to see Levi lying on the floor.

"What happened?" I asked confused, rushing to his side. He rolled over on his back, groaning in pain.

"Your shitty shoes happened!" He yelled, annoyed as fuck. I looked over to see my shoes on the floor, beside the kitchen counter. You wouldn't be able to see them if you were behind the counter and walking towards the table, as I was imagining that Levi had been doing.

"Are you alright?" I helped him up to stand again, but he couldn't put pressure on his right foot.

"I think it's sprained ankle," I said under my breath. Levi grunted, clinging to my arm so he wouldn't fall down again.

"Piece of shitty, fucking moth – " He kept mumbling horrible cuss words, some that even I hadn't heard before, when I put an arm behind his knees and back. I lifted him up in one quick motion, surprising him.

"Oi, what are you doing? Stupid brat, put me down!"

I giggled when he tried to swing his legs over, only making my grip tighter.

"Stop moving, I'm just helping you ... Princess," I couldn't help but add the last one, just for fun. He hated being carried like this, as if he was a girl.

"You're not helping me, you was the one who damaged me!" He yelled, and then proceeded to smack the side of my head. "And don't call me that!"

"That is just more reason for me to help!"

There was really nothing he could do. I carried him over to the sofa, where I had been lying just a few seconds ago.

"I'm calling Petra," I announced, with a voice that told him not to protest. After putting a pillow under his foot that was resting on the table, I grabbed the phone and typed in her number.

"Hello, Levi?"

"No, this is Eren,"

"Oh, Eren! It's so good to hear from you. Is everything alright?" She sounded genuinely happy, which made me smile. I hadn't known her for very long, yet she was still so kind to me.

"Everything is fine, but I think that Levi sprained his ankle, and – "

"Because Eren is a stupid brat who doesn't know the word cleaning!" Levi yelled behind me, and crossed his arms over his chest, clearly in a sour mood. I shushed at him, like parents did to their children, before turning back to the conversation.

"Anyway, I was wondering if you would mind coming over, you know, just to check if everything is alright?"

"Of course! I'll be there in 20 minutes,"

I hung up and put down the phone, before sitting down beside Levi again.

He ignored me though, just staring right ahead, pretending not to notice me.

"You're such a child, you know that?"

He still didn't move, but his bottom lip trembled lightly and he looked really pissed off. He was probably forcing himself not to let out a bunch of cuss words again. The thought made me laugh, and I moved closer to him.

"Leeeeevi ... I'm sorry. Don't be mad, okay?" I whispered, my mouth close to his ear.

He still didn't react. I sighed – what else did he want me to say?

I started kissing his neck, making him tense up. I didn't let that have an impact, since I just kept going, letting my hand rub his chest.

"Come ooon, don't be such a baby." I paused, finally realising what he wanted to hear. "I promise I'll be better at cleaning then,"

"You better be," He mumbled irritated, but he still turned his head to face mine. I kissed him, still with a smile on my face, and I could feel how his body started relaxing.

We sat there for a few minutes, just enjoying ourselves. His hands were on my hips while mine were buried in his soft, black hair. I caressed it slowly, keeping my eyes closed.

The apartment was nice and quiet, and the only few sounds were coming from us everytime our lips parted for only a millisecond, before pressing against eachother once again.

That was why we so quickly tore our bodies from each other, when we heard a knock on the door. 

"Come in!" I yelled, my face a bit flustered as the door opened slowly.

"Hey guys," Petra smiled as she walked in, closing the door behind her. She took off her shoes at the entrance – which made Levi quickly send me _that look_ – before walking over to the sofa. She was still in her uniform, clearly coming straight from work.

"You had a great timing, I was just about to get into my car when you called," She smiled at me, before sitting down on her knees so she could face Levi's foot. He took off his sock and pulled up his thight pants.

"Well, that was what we were hoping for, so ... " He said, his voice thick with sarcasm. I stuck an elbow into his side, and now it was my turn to send him a look.

Petra just laughed in response, clearly used to Levi's way to say things. She started touching his foot at different places, and with different levels of pressure. Levi flinched at them, but he didn't speak. He hated showing weakness, yet he still grabbed my hand. I bit my bottom lip not to protest when he started holding it too tightly. It didn't matter, though – I was just happy that he had let me support him, even if it meant only holding his hand.

"Well, good news is that you're lucky having a doctor as a friend, when you get injured like this," Petra finally said, standing up again.

I furrowed my eyes, a bit concerned when hearing that.

"And the bad news?"


	7. A Game of Chess

So I had apparently broken my foot. They had taken me to the hospital afterwards, and after a few hours I had come home with a lot of plaster around my foot.

The doctor had told me not to do anything the next 6 weeks, so I was now forced to stay at home, doing nothing. I was stuck in the living room, staring at the TV all day long. Eren had promised to visit as often as he could, but I was still dying from boredom.

So every time he had come over, I had wanted to spend every minute with him. Not being able to do anything else, we usually just sat on the couch, cuddling or watching a movie. Sometimes we just talked, but no matter what it was, I was more focused than before, giving him all my attention. I started to notice things about him, that I hadn't before.

How his lips pursed when he was annoyed, or how small dimples appeared when he was smiling to widely. How there was always a sparkle in his eyes when he was in a good mood, and how he tried to hide his concern for me.

But the thing that I noticed the most, was how he always knew what I wanted.

Today was Saturday, so Eren had come in the morning, so we could spend the whole day together.

"Good morning," He twirped after opening my bedroom door, before disappearing into the kitchen again. I had given him a key a few days before, so he could come and go as he wanted.

I grabbed my crutches that stood near my bed and used them to get out and into the livingroom.

"Oi! I thought you wanted to come at noon instead? What happened to sleeping in?" I saw how he shrugged, still having his back turned at me.

"I don't know, I just wanted to be here early. I didn't really want to sleep in,"

"Yeah, but I wanted to ... " I muttered for myself, like a little child. I sat at the kitchen counter, placing my crutches at my side. I had clearly become too spoilt by Eren.

"What are you doing?" I asked, suddenly intrigued. He rarely cooked for me, and I didn't remember asking him to.

"Pancakes," He said, and turned around to give me a quick smile.

I raised an eyebrow, worried how that would turn out.

"Um ... Okay. But why?"

"Can't I spoil my boyfriend when I want to?" He said and winked at me, before opening the refrigerator to grab the eggs.

"Don't call me that," I said, annoyed. He put the eggs down on the table, and walked over to me. He didn't seem to be affected by my comment at all.

"Well, you clearly don't mind it when I do this," He said, leaning over to grab my chin. He pulled my head forward a bit, and kissed me passionately. I placed my hands on his chest, not having made up my mind yet if I wanted to push him away or pull him closer.

He left me breathless when he cut off the kiss to return to the pancakes.

"Whatever," I muttered, scratching the table with my nail to distract myself.

It took him over half an hour before finally being done. It smelled great though, I just didn't want to give him the satisfaction of telling him. It seemed like he was having a little too much self-confidence today, and I certainly didn't want to contribute to that.

He found the plates, forks, knives and syrup before sitting down. I grabbed a pancake and placed it on my plate, before looking around the kitchen. Eren had put syrup on his, and was already rolling it together.

_Where the hell is the jam?_

Eren suddenly looked around the table.  
"Whoops," He mumbled, before standing up. He reached the refrigerator and quickly pulled out the glass jar with raspberry jam. He sat down again, placing it on the table before returning his attention to his own pancake.

I furrowed my eyebrows, watching it all happen with a baffled expression.

 _Had I said that out loud? No. I definitely hadn't. Could it be that he had just thought of it himself? No, he had been to focused on his own –_  
"Hey, want do you wanna do today?"

Eren had reached over to grab my hand, interrupting my trail of thoughts, and therefore distracting me.

"Hmm ... Do you want to play chess?" I asked him, though I already knew the answer. He was prepared to do anything that I wanted to. It was something that I didn't know how to feel about, either being annoyed that he was so nice, or appreciate it.

It was easier to be annoyed, though.

We ate in silence, though it wasn't an uncomfortable one. I was actually most happy about the fact that we could be together without feeling the need always to have a conversation. So we just holded hands most of the time, until we both finished. On one leg I jumped over to the sink, and started cleaning the dishes that he brought over. While waiting for me to finish the dishes, he just stood behind me. His arms were loosely wrapped around my chest and his head were resting between my shoulder wings. His eyes were closed, and he was humming a random melody. It made me sleepy again, my movements becoming sluggish and slow.

When I finally finished, we sat down at the wooden table, so we could focus properly. I put the little pieces on their right places, and we began playing.

I had clearly underestimated the boy.

Everytime I thought I was going to get the upper hand, it seemed like he knew just what to do. Everytime I had moved a piece, he blocked me. Therefore, I ended up overanalyzing every move that I wanted to make.

_If I move that one, then I can take his horse, but not if he moves it afterwards._

I took the chance.

He moved it.

_Right now, the best thing would to move the tower up there ... Eren has some good opportunities to kill my other horse with his own tower, which would ... No, I'll move the tower and hope he doesn't see that he can actually kill me with his queen ..._

He killed it.

"How can you be so good at this?!" I growled, clearly getting more and more worked up over this.

Eren just shrugged, wich pissed me off even more.

"I've played chess for all my life, I've beaten everyone I know, but you still manage to win, and then just shrug about it?" I stood up, knocking my fist into the table.

"This is unbelievable!"

"Are you seriosuly mad that I won over you?" Eren laughed, but I could see him getting nervous. "Levi, don't be a bad loser. It's just sad,"

I grabbed my clutches without another word, and went into my bedroom to cool off.

"Levi!" He yelled, running after me like a lost puppy.  
"You cheated," I quickly stated, my hand on the side of the door. I was ready to close it in his face, if I needed to.

"How?" He raised an eyebrow.

"I don't know, you could have – " I groaned in annoyance. "Or you could ..."

I really had no idea.

"I'm sorry, I guess I'm just better than chess than you are. Is that really something to be this upset about?"

He reached over and grabbed my waist. I was still pissed, but I let him pull me towards him anyway.

"Hmf," I just mumbled, crossing my arms to at least distance our upper bodies.

"You're such a girl," Eren mumbled, bending down to kiss me.

I let him, though right before his lips met mine, I noticed something.

His eyes flickered again.


	8. A Sad Realisation

"It's disgusting,"

"It is not!"

"It is. It is smelly and dirty and it disgusts me,"

"Don't be so melodramatic!"

"I'm not,"

"You so are,"

I hit him over the head, causing him to scream like a girl.

"Ow, stop doing that!"

"I'll stop when you stop being annoying,"

"Sorry, but that's not possible," Eren grinned, turning around to face me. "It's in my genes, there's no changing that,"

He chuckled, before leaning down to kiss me, but I turned my head to the side in the last minute.  
"Help me up," I ordered him instead, reaching out my hands so that he could pull me up.

"No,"

"Excuse me?"

He giggled before sitting down in my lap. I looked at him, quite baffled.

The kid was definitely getting too much confidence, thinking that he could defy me like this.

"You took a shower this morning! You can wait until tomorrow,"

"But it's – "

"Leeeeeevi, do what I say for once. I'm the one in charge, remember?"

"I remember no such thing,"

"Petra said that I was!" He pouted, crossing his arms over his chest.

I sighed, rolling my eyes.

"I can take care of myself," I chose to tell him, making sure to sound very annoyed.

"You wouldn't even last a day without me," He laughed, pushing me down onto the cushion behind me and forcing a quick kiss on me before I could protest.

"Shut up," I just said, since I knew that if I said he was wrong again, it would hurt him more than normally.

Kids these days. They were so predictable.

"Make me," He said teasingly, trying to get me in the mood. I wasn't though, since I still couldn't get the thoughts out of my head. I felt so dirty right know, that the only thing I could think about, was to get clean.

He was probably horny, that much I could tell, but it wasn't enough to distract me from …

"Levi!"

The voice cut through my thoughts, and I raised an eyebrow.

"What?"

He didn't answer that though. Instead he just looked at me with a thoughtful look in his eyes.

_What the hell is he doing. He should know by now that I'm not in the mood._

"What do I have to do?" He asked suddenly, placing his hands on my shoulders and looked at me with determination in his eyes.

"What do you mean?"

"To get you to notice me!"

I took a deep breath not to break out in full sarcasm mode.

"Eren, you are literally sitting on me. I don't think it's possible for me not to notice you right now," I let out a small chuckle, amused by how foolish he sounded.

"That's not what I mean. You … You never touch me anymore,"

_Idiot. How can he not know why that is?_

"How am I supposed to know that?!" He suddenly exclaimed, not even giving me enough time to answer.

"Eh, know what?" I asked, furrowing my brows. That was weird. It had seemed like something that could have been said to answer exactly what I had thought …

Eren's cheeks started blushing, and he quickly shook his head.

"N-Nothing!" He said, suddenly seeming nervous. "Just … Please tell me what I've done wrong,"

I was quiet for a long moment, before finally answering.

"How am I supposed to get turned on, when I feel so filthy? How am I supposed to let you touch me when I'm this dirty? How can I even let myself touch you, when you are clean and I am not?"

"That's stupid," He immidiately answered, hitting me on the shoulder. "You're even more clean than I am right now!"

"Am not,"

"Am too!"

The discussion went on for another ten minutes, before he finally agreed to help me out into the shower.

After taking a long bath together, we went to the bedroom to sleep. It had become more and more natural for us to do that, and sometimes I even forgot that Eren had another home.

It was like he fit in so perfectly in my life, that I was having a hard time remembering how my life had been before him. Even if he was acting like a childish brat sometimes.

I hadn't been lonely before, I just hadn't been aware of how much nicer it was to have someone important in my life.

Eren fell asleep in my arms after only a few minutes, and I had buried my face into his hair to take a long sniff of him.

He smelled like home.

My arms around him tightened their wrap, and I let out a very long sigh. I was absolutely sure that he was asleep now, since I could finally relax.

If Eren was such an important piece of my new life, then how could it be that I was never able to relax around him? I always felt tense, like I needed to put up walls.

Walls in my head, I thought.

That was what scared me the most.

Eren had just seemed like a normal kid. Just a teenager who had appeared in my life out of nowhere. It had been easy at first, and I hadn't noticed anything odd about him. He was the typical teenager, just filled with those damn hormones.

But there was something else as well … I hadn't noticed it at first, but now it seemed like I couldn't stop noticing.

It was little things, yeah. But I couldn't shake the feeling that something was way off. It just wasn't possible for him to know the things that he did. The way he knew what I always wanted, even answering my thoughts before I could even say them out loud.

I always thought of my answers before actually saying them – that way, I was sure to keep my head cool, and be sure of that I wouldn't say anything incorrect.

The thought of the possibility that Eren could actually ….

No. I couldn't finish that sentence. If I said the words out loud, if I even just thought of them … I couldn't believe myself.

Why?

Because that kind of thing isn't even possible.

I started to question my own sanity.

_This isn't a scene in a X-Men movie. This is real life, for god's sake!_

I sighed again.

But there was something wrong with Eren, I knew that much.

I made the sad realisation that I didn't trust Eren – well, not as much as I had deluded myself to think.

Something was definitely going on, so I decided to take it into my own hands. I was going to find out what, if it was the last thing I did.


	9. Are You Satisfied Now?

I had already started testing my theory the week after.

On monday, I started out small. I just kept on thinking about ice cream. I kept thinking that I wanted it so badly, and that I was so frustrated and sad that I was stuck inside the apartment, not being able to go get the ice cream for myself.

Of course, I never said any of this. I just kept thinking it over and over, all day long. Eren had come home to me after school, but he had just stayed on the sofa, doing homework.

In the end, there was no catch. Either he hadn't heard me, or I was just being way too paranoid.

On tuesday, it was confirmed. Eren came to the apartment to make dinner, and afterwards he 'surprised' me with the ice cream.

I had to force myself to smile and to think positive, naïve thoughts, when all I could feel was my heart sinking deeper into my stomach.

I was right, he somehow knew what was going on in my head.

Or maybe he was just really good at reading body language.

On wednesday he had fallen sick, so he had to stay home, but that just left me with time to figure out my next move. The final move, you'd might say.

I didn't want to mess around anymore, so I decided that the truth had to come out, and it had to be him revealing it. I needed him to be able to tell me the truth, or else I wouldn't be able to trust him ever again.

Well, at least that was what I had decided.

He finally came again that friday, where I greeted him in the doorway.

"Hey," He said, sending me a bright smile that I did not return.

"Hey,"

He bent down to kiss me, but I turned away at the last minute to close the door.

"Is something wrong?"

 _Everything is wrong,_ I thought, and I was surprisingly agreeing with that statement, even if it was something that I was just making up as a part of my plan.

"No," I shook my head slowly, leaning the crutches against the wall. I was hoping that he would notice how reluctant I was trying to seem. I wasn't particularly a good actor, since I had never really acted before, but I didn't consider myself bad either.

"Hmm … " Eren looked at me for a few seconds longer, before placing the school bag on the sofa. "Alright then,"

He sat down on the sofa, seemingly unaware, so I kept standing at the same spot as before, just between the kitchen and the living room. I put my hands into my pockets, and kept looking at him.

 _I don't want to do this anymore,_ I thought, but he didn't seem to react.

I tried again.

_I don't like you anymore._

No reaction what so ever. Why wasn't he reacting? Wasn't he able to read my thoughts after all?

Getting a bit annoyed, I let out a sigh. That made him finally look up, and I could see how his eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"Why are you just standing there?" He asked before sending me a calming smile. He was probably trying to ease me, remove whatever tension I seemed to have.

I took a deep breath to open my mouth, but no words came out.

_I want to break up._

Just thinking those words made my stomach turn into a crazy mess, and I felt like being punched a thousand times.

That was nothing compared to how I felt, when I saw Erens face.

The gentle smile on his face was starting to fade away as his eyes got larger. It was so clear now – He had heard me, loud and clear, and now he was probably feeling as horrible as I was.

Why was I doing this again?

Oh yeah.

I needed the truth, no matter how painful it had to be.

 _I don't love you. I don't even like you anymore,_ I kept on going.

This was almost too painful.

But it was even more painful to watch Eren, who was probably trying to figure out what to do.

"H-Hey … Is everything okay? You d-don't seem – " His voice faded out, as he had no idea how to continue his sentence. I realised how terrible it must be, knowing exactly what I wanted, yet he had to pretend that he didn't understand.

Then I realised that I was in the same damn position as he was, resulting in me losing a bit of my sympathy for the boy.

"I'm fine, Eren," I said in the most cold tone I could muster. I watched as Eren stood up again, wrapping his arms around himself. All I wanted to do was to go over there and hold him, tell him that everything was okay, he just had to confess and tell me the truth.

But I couldn't do that.

It was so important for me that he had to do this on his own. I refused to let him know that I already knew what he could do. He had to do this on his own. Even if we had to do this the hard way.

And oh, was this truly was the hard way.

_Look at him, so pathetic. He's such a child._

I cleared my throat, before grapping the crutches and moving towards the sofa.

"Why are you looking like that?" I asked annoyed, before throwing myself on the sofa in the other end, as far away from him as possible.

"Eh … " Eren sat down again, though he kept his gaze on me, with a questioning look in his eyes. I avoided it by looking out of the window.

The silence between us got very uncomfortable, and the next time that I looked back at him, he was in the process of taking on his shoes again.

"What do you think you are doing?" I asked in a stern voice, looking angrily at him.

"Um … H-Home," He finally said, and I could hear how muddy and messed up his voice had become.

"Why? I thought we had made plans that you would sleep here tonight?"

He looked up at me with a confused look, and I could see all the sorrow in his face.

"You want me to stay? … Why?"

I rolled my eyes.

"Because that was the deal that we made?"

I tried making it sound like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

_Maybe I won't break up with him tonight any way. It would be a good thing to have him around here, taking care of me. I need the help, clearly … And when my foot has healed, I can dispose of him._

Eren, who had opened his mouth to say something, suddenly became silent as he just looked at me in plain horror.

"L-Levi … " He mumbled at last, as he didn't now what else to say.

"I'm sorry, what? Did you want to say something?" I asked. I could almost feel how close I was to the truth. I just needed to push a little more …

"D-Do you?" He said under his breath, his whole face expression being so horribly sad to look at. He looked like a lost puppy, and the trembling bottom lip didn't really help.

"Me?" I tried to sound a little surprised. "Oh! Yeah, actually now that you mention it … "

I took a deep breath. Ready for the final stab in the gut.

"I had to find a new assistant after I found out how helpful it was to have you in the office … So I interviewed a few people, and I finally hired someone,"

This was so off-topic, that he looked very dumbfounded for a moment.

"Um … Okay?" He said hesistantly, not understand where I was going with this.

"Actually while you were sick the other day, he came over to give me a stack of papers. We had a really long talk, and I really think that he'll become a good assistant. Just what I needed,"

 _And good in bed too,_ I thought. _I finally found someone who are actually up to my standards … And he is so much older and sexier than Eren. I can't believe what I ever saw in that brat -_

BAM!  
I fell down on the floor, landing flat on my stomach. Turning around to look at him, he was now standing above me with clenched fists and a flustered face.

"What the hell, Eren?" I yelled, raising a hand up to my cheek where he had hit me. "What was that for?!"

He didn't answer me, he just kept staring at me angrily.

He had every right to be mad, since I clearly stepped over the line with this. I hadn't planned on hurting him so bad, but then again I hadn't known that it would take so much to get him to confess.

And I had every reason to be mad as well.

"Why did you hit me?" I tried again, as I got up in a sitting position. "What could I possibly have done to deserve that?!"

"Shut up!" Eren suddenly yelled, giving me quite the shock. He then proceeded to fall to his knees and hide his face in his hands.

"Hey!" I said, grabbing his wrists to pull them away from his face. "Why. Did. You. Hit. Me?"

"Because y-you … How could you … I-I don't … " His sentences became a mess, not making any sense in the end.

"You don't what?"

"... Understand … Why would you do that to me?" He finally looked up at me, and I could see how red his eyes were.

This was not supposed to happen like this. He wasn't supposed to cry. He was supposed to get mad and reveal his secret. And then I would tell him that none of it was true, and then … I actually hadn't thought of that yet. I didn't know what would have happened then.

Would I even forgive him? Leave it at that, and live our lives as before again?

There was really no point in thinking about that anymore, as clearly none was going as according to that plan. It had failed the minute the first tear had left his eyes.

But there was really no turning back after that. I had to see the end to this.

"Eren, do what?" Apparently I had to fish for the right answers.

"C-Cheat on me … "

Finally.

I grabbed his shoulders and shook him lightly.  
"Who said that I was cheating on you?"

He looked up at me, and I could see the fire come back into his eyes.

Anger.

"Who said that?" I kept asking, while still shaking him. "Who? Who said that? Who? WHO?!"

"YOU!" He finally screamed, pushing me away from him. "How could you?! If you want to break up with me then do it, don't go around cheating on me first! If you really don't love me, then … Then … " His voice died out again, as more tears rolled over his cheeks and he started sobbing silently.

This was heartbreaking.

"How could you know all that?" I finally answered, my voice low and filled with anger. "How could you possible have known all that, when I haven't said a word about it to anyone?"

"Because … " Eren looked down at his hands that were trembling. He then looked up at me, clenching his fists. "Because that was what you were thinking! I heard it! I heard it all"

Silence came after that, as I just kept staring into his eyes that were filled with so much fire. I could guess that mine was as well.

Finally.

I had finally gotten what I wanted … So why didn't I feel satisfied at all?


	10. Broken

This was too chaotic. I felt like being stabbed multiple times, all of my energy flying out of my body, my thoughts and feelings all out in the open. This was too much. I didn't ask for this, right? I didn't want this. I wanted a normal life, with a normal partner, not … not this … Whatever it was.

"Well, I'm so sorry for not living up to your normal standards!" Eren spat out, sarcasm filling his voice. I looked at him, noticing how his jaw was clenched and his hands had turned into fists.

"You're doing it again!" I yelled before grabbing a pillow and throwing it at him. "Stop it! Stop reading my mind!"

It hit him in the face, but there was no real impact since it was just a small, soft pillow. He caught it before it landed on the floor, and then proceeded to wrap his arms around it and pressing it against his chest.

"I'm sorry, I can't help it!" He cried out.

"What do you mean, you can't help it?!" I demanded to know, looking at him angrily.

"I can usually control it, but when I don't have my own emotions in check, I can't stop it from happening," He said, his voice finally lowering down. "And when – "

"No, stop!" I cut him off, not wanting to hear about it. "This is too surreal … " I whispered, mostly to myself, but Eren seemed to hear it as well.

"Well, I'm sorry if it doesn't seem to suit you!"

My anger rose up in me once again.

"I never asked for this, Eren!"

He looked at me for a very long time, silence surrounding us. His gaze caught mine, forcing me not to look anywhere else but into his beautiful, emerald green eyes. There was no fire in them anymore, making him look like he had almost given up. He breathed out loudly, a sigh fitting the situation.

"Do you really think that _I_ did?"

That comment hit me like a wall, smashing me down when I just thought that I had gotten up. I felt all the air leave my lungs, as if someone had punched me in the stomach with insane strength.

Of course he hadn't asked for this, but that had never actually crossed my mind. I had only been thinking about how this had affected me, not giving him any thought at all. It was probably because I hadn't want to believe it before now, denying it until the end. So it had been impossible for me to think about something like that, when I wasn't even ready to accept its existence. But how had this really occurred? Had he been born with it, or did it just happen one day? Could he hear everyone's thoughts, and how could he hear them? Were they like voices inside his head, or did they sound like his own thoughts? What happened when people remembered their memories, while he was reading their minds? Would that be like watching a movie for Eren? Or what about distance? How far would you have to be from him to dodge his ability?

There was suddenly so many questions that I wanted to ask him. But now clearly wasn't the time, since I was still angry with him, and he was probably still very hurt and upset with me as well.

That reminded me. I had to clean up the mess I had made him believe.

"Eren," I started out, catching his attention. "I'm not cheating on you,"

He didn't answer, but his body revealed his answer though. He looked down, burying his face into the pillow, and that was when his whole body started to shake rather heavily.

As no one proceeded to speak, the only sound filling the room was his soundless crying. My own breathing became ragged as well, as I felt the tears filling the corners of my eyes.

No. I refuse to cry, I thought to myself, trying to blink the tears away. I did not succeed, as they escaped soon after, falling down my cheeks.

Why did he have such impact on me? How could it be, that just watching Eren being hurt, was making me hurt as well?

Even worse, since I was the one doing the hurting. I realised how much I just wanted to reach out to him, take his hand, hold him, removing those tears from his eyes, remove all the hurt, all the lies, everything … But I couldn't. This was a mess that we both had made, and there was no way that we could fully repair it again.

"Eren,"

I tried reaching my hand out at him, but he lifted his head in time to see it, and then slapped it away violently.

"No … That is not okay … It is not okay … "

He wiped his cheeks with the end of his sleeves, though he was still panting and sobbing lowly.

"Then why did you keep thinking that? Why did you want to break up?"

I paused, before answering. Not because I didn't know the answer, but because explaining it further to him might anger him even more.

"I had to think like that to get you to tell me the truth! What else was I supposed to do?"

"HOW ABOUT FUCKING ASKING ME?!" He yelled, suddenly up on his feet again, now looking down at me. With my broken foot I would have a much harder time getting up, but the thought of him being able to storm out the door scared me enough to get up as well. I grabbed the sofa, pulling myself up with its help, so that I could look at Eren properly again.

"Would you have answered me honestly, if I did?" I asked, placing both hands at my hips, raising an eyebrow at him. "Besides, I couldn't do that – you had to tell me yourself! You had to confess to me what you did!"

"What I did?" He asked, confused by my words.

"Yes … What you did," I growled, clenching my hands into fists once more as the anger rose up inside me again. "Betraying me!"

He looked like something was stuck in his throat, as his eyes got larger and his mouth opening lightly.  
"B-Betraying … " He mumbled, looking directly at me. "I-I suppose … I suppose that's true … "

I could see his brain working, how hard he was thinking this through … I didn't say anything else until he was ready again, as he probably needed to realise it before being able to continue this … Whatever it was.

"L-Levi – " He suddenly mumbled, walking towards me to destroy the distance between us. Now that he was closer, I noticed the changes in his face. He brows furrowing, his eyelashes wet from crying to the point where they were clutching together.

"I'm sorry … I'm so sorry … " He said, his voice breaking in the end, as he started to sob once more. Before I knew it, his arms were wrapping themselves around me in a tight embrace, Eren's face buried into my shoulder. I could feel his warmth, how his body felt against mine. He was shaking lightly as he continued to cry, but I couldn't force myself to place my arms around him. As much as I wanted to, there was something holding me back.

I rested my head against his, pressing my mouth and nose into that messy hair of his, trying to sniff out the familiar smell of Eren. It relaxed me instantly, and I closed my eyes for a long moment.

But as much as I enjoyed the smell of him, and the way it felt to be touched by him … As much as I loved having him near, and seeing his face … As much as I loved these things, it seemed that they angered me horribly as well. There was a fine line between love and hate, and right now I was still bending in the wrong direction – but it was that direction no less, there was no denying that.

How much love I still had for Eren, the feeling of betrayal and anger still overshadowed that love.

I was unable to still be with him like this, when I was feeling like this … But then again. Would that feeling ever go away?

Would I ever be able to forgive him?

Eren was still silently chanting the words 'I'm sorry' into my shirts fabric, and I could feel how his tears was making it all wet. I grabbed his upper arms, forcing him away from me, and he looked at me with big eyes.

"L-Levi … ?"

As I looked at him now, I was suddenly reminded that he was still young. Much younger than me even. Of course he was going to make mistakes, how could I punish him for that?

No. No matter what, he still had to understand the consequences.

As I started opening my mouth, Eren quickly cut me off.

"I'm so sorry, Levi! I never wanted it to get so far, but I didn't know if I could tell you, but I wanted to, but I didn't know how you were going to react! I wanted to tell you from the beginning, but I was afraid that you would think I was some kind of freak, that I was disgusting or a monster … Every time I told somebody, they all just left me behind, they all started to hate me … " With these words, Eren fell to the ground, landing on his knees. He grabbed the fabric of my pants, pressing his forehead against my left leg.

"P-Please, Levi … I just didn't want you to hate me as well … I was so afraid, that … That … "

... That I would do exactly was I was doing right now?

My heart ached, seeing him like this. He looked so hurt, so broken … How could I possibly do what I was planning on doing now?

His hands tightened around the fabric as a reaction, making me realise that he was probably still able to hear my thoughts.

He knew.

He knew what I wanted. He knew what was about to happen.

"... Please don't leave me … " He weeped, his shoulders shaking. I placed both hands on them to ease him, as I got down on my knees to be at the same height as him. He was unable to look at me, so I moved both hands up to cup his face. At last he lifted his face to look me in the eyes.

I wanted to tell him I was sorry. I wanted to cry. I wanted to hit him. I wanted to hold him. I wanted to yell at him. I wanted to throw him out. I wanted not to be such a mess. I wanted to keep my feelings in check.

I wanted my privacy back.

There was still things I wanted to say to him, but I couldn't find the words any more. I wanted to tell him that it was over, but I still loved him. I wanted to explain to him why this was ending the way it was, but even I didn't exactly know why.

_Why …_

_Why?_

I leaned in, pressing my lips against his in a gentle manner. He returned it in the same soft way, afraid to push it further than I would allow.

 _I'm sorry,_ I thought, and it wasn't long after that I could taste how the salty tears mixed themselves into our kiss.

I wasn't even sure whom they belonged to anymore, though it didn't really matter.

This was a goodbye kiss.


	11. Life Without Eren

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This takes place roughly 3 months after their break up.

"Wake up,"

"Ngghhh,"

"Sir, please. I need th-these documents signed and – "

"Get the fuck out," I hissed, slowly lifting my head to send the new boy a furious look. It didn't take more than 2 seconds before he turned around and ran out of the door, passing Hanji who was on her way inside.

"Was that really necessary?" She asked me with a soft smile, placing her hands on her hips when she shifted her weight from her right leg to her left.

"Excuse me?" I said, lifting my head from my desk so I could straighten my back and look directly at her.

"Hey Hotshot," She started off, ignoring my comment, before sighing lowly. "You have bags under your eyes. How much sleep did you get last night?"

I tried to remember, but it all seemed a little too blurry for my own taste. I knew I had been sitting at my desk at home, doing work, until I had fallen asleep on the keyboard … Hence, the vague spots on my cheeks where 'B', 'N' and 'M' had been. Wait, I remember looking at the clock towards the end – what had it been at?

"I think I got 4 hours worth of sleep," I mumbled, after remembering. I was lying of course, since it had only been about 2 hours at the most, but she didn't need to know that. And luckily she couldn't read my mind to find out …

Wait, what? Why was I thinking about that now?

I quickly shook my head, which caused a few black locks of hair to fall into my eyes.

"What? That's way too little! You need to sleep, Levi!" Hanji protested, shocked at this information.

Yes, She would definitely flip out if I told her the truth. If I told her that it was like that almost every night. After getting my promotion, it had always been like this, buried in work. I didn't mind though, as it seemed to keep me busy.

What else was I supposed to do? Sit around, staring at the walls inside my apartment? No, I was never going back to that again. It had been 2 months since my foot had healed properly, finally giving me the ability to get out into the real world again – so I definitely wouldn't waste it by just sitting at home, doing nothing. Because I knew, that if I started staying still, I would start to wonder … Would start to think about things … Things that I didn't want to think about. People I didn't want to think about … No. Shit. I was getting ahead of myself again.

I lifted my head to look Hanji in the eyes with the meanest gaze I could possibly make. To my annoyance, she didn't even flinch.

"That is really none of your concern, now is it Hanji?" I spat out, raising a judging eyebrow at her. She did the exact same face expression, probably in an attempt to mock me.

"Of course it is!"

"No,"

"Yes!"

"No,"

"Come on!"

"No,"

"Levi!"

I threw a pencil at her, which she dodged gracefully. I rolled my eyes, leaning back into my chair.

"Get the fuck out of my office, Shitty Glasses,"

She pouted, just she still did as she was told.

"Being the hotshot new lawyer makes you a real ass, you know that?"

"I was an ass before as well, that hasn't changed one bit," I just answered, but I couldn't help but smile a bit anyway. Before exiting completely, Hanji turned around in the door.

"By the way, Erwin told me to send you up to his office. It sounded pretty serious,"

I sighed loudly.

"Then why the hell did you first tell me now?" I hissed at her, standing up in the same moment.

"Because I love seeing you being such a hot mess, Hotshot!"

"Stop calling me that!" I yelled at her, but she was at this time already gone. Sighing yet again, I slowly stood up, and walked around the desk. It was bigger than the previous one. Actually, this was a whole other office, almost twice as big as the one before. There was more light coming from the big-ass windows, and I even had two armchairs with a small, round table in between them, where you could drink tea and read the paper.

It was nice.

Especially since everything was new as well. There was no old memories connected to these objects, as there had been with the previous ones that I had had … Thank god. Being reminded of him was hard enough at the apartment. If there was triggers at work too, I don't really think that I would have made it.

I went out of the office, closing the door behind me, before walking towards the elevator. Erwin had his office two more floors up, which was probably why Hanji kept calling him Bigshot. He didn't actually own or run this company, but since he was the more succesful one of the three of us, that ended up being the reason for the nickname.

Hanji had taken in the annoying habit of giving us nicknames, and they changed monthly. This month I was Hotshot, but last month she had fun with 'Oompa Loompa' – whatever that meant.

Before that it had been Small Fry, and the regular one being 'Shorty' if she was in a hurry, though I had started to beat her everytime she did call me that.

"Going up?" A voice behind me asked, and I turned around to face the person who was talking to me. It was an older man, bald and with many small crinkles around his eyes. He was smiling though, his gaze seemingly a bit hazy.

I nodded once as an answer, before turning around again. I was not in the mood for some smelly, old guy to tell me his life story about how he had gotten some weird disease and now lived on a farm with his 10 grandkids. I was so not in the mood for that.

The elevator made a 'ding' sound before opening its doors, and both me and the other man stepped inside. I pressed the button sending us to the 6th floor, and then noticing that the other man did no such thing.

"On the 6th as well?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. That was unusual. The clients was usually dealt with at my floor, the 4th. Did that mean that he worked here as well?

I pulled out a hand sanitizer while waiting inside the elevator. I pressed both palms together to get it everywhere, as you never really could be too careful. There had probably been over a hundred people pressing those buttons just today, and I would bet my right arm that half of them probably hadn't washed their hands after being in the bathroom.

Disgusted just by the thought, I sighed with relief when the elevator once again informed us that we had arrived, with a 'ding'.

I stepped out, and started walking towards Erwins office. The old man went another way, thank god, so I finally felt like I could rest a little easier.

I only had to knock twice before I heard him say 'Come on in', and so I did.

He was sitting at his desk, his hands resting in front of him, his fingers intertwined with each other. His expression was blank, giving me no opportunity to read him, but I didn't expect anything less from him. Afterall, we had been friends for years.

It seemed that he had been waiting for me.

"Hanji said that you wanted to see me?" I asked, walking further towards him, until I reached the desk. Without his permission I sat down in one of the two armchairs that were in front of his desk, and then proceeding to cross my leg over the other.  
"Yes, I did," He said, nodding slowly.

I tapped my fingers against my kneecap impatiently, irritated by his relaxed manner. I knew I was feeling this way because the lack of sleep made me on edge, but it still didn't matter. Today, Erwin annoyed me.

" … So? What did you need?"

He cleared his throat twice before speaking again.

"I know that you are new to all of it, but this is rather urgent. We need to prosecute a man called Reiner Braun, who we believe is the leader of a local gang in the Westside Area. He has escaped prison several times by using his verbal skills. So even though you are new, that might be just what we need. Someone fresh, with a different set of mind. Therefore, I need you to get on this case. He has the knowledge of the locations of the different hideout places that his gang uses for drugs, so we need to somehow figure out where they are. That's were you come in – got it?"

I looked at him in surprise, not really sure what to say.

"I-I'm sorry, but … Is this not police work, to interview the suspects? I'm a lawyer," This was the facts that were, which made me utterly confused to why he would ever want me on this. If they haven't even caught the guy yet, how was I supposed to be involved?

"Of course. And when this has been done, you will of course be the the prosecutor of the case. It's a win-win for you, right? This will also be your first real case, I've been told,"

I clenched my teeth at all this new information. This was definitely not something that I was expecting to anticipate in, when I entered the room.

However, I did know that this was not something that I could turn down. Erwin was only asking to be polite an uphold manners, but I knew that I had to accept whatever was given to me.

"So when do we start?" I asked instead, trying to manage the cool exterior that I had put up. I could see the corner of his mouth lift up for a moment, clearly satisfied with my response.

"This friday. You need to choose which direction you wish to go in, before we can go any further though. I'll let you talk it over with the Head of the Police Department. He'll probably be arriving shortly now – "

As if on cue, a knock on the door cut Erwin off, but it didn't seem to annoy him any bit.

"Come in," He cleared his throat once more, before continuing. "As I was saying, this is Chief Pixis. We will be working closely with him on this case, and it is also him that you'll have to talk into more detail with,"

I turned around, only to be met with a familiar pair of eyes.

The old man from the elevator?

Of course, just my luck.

"Chief Pixis, my name is – "

" – Levi Ackerman, yes I know. It's nice to officially greet you," He interrupted to say, reaching out a hand in the process. I got up from the chair, before giving him a firm handshake.

"It's nice to meet you as well … Officially,"

He smiled, releasing my hand. I pulled it back, resisting the urges of using the hand sanitizer again.

"So Levi," Pixis started, crossing his arms over his chest. "I've read your file,"

My eyebrows was raised instantly by this comment.

"I didn't know I had such a thing,"

I sent Erwin a quick look. He had something to do with this, I was sure of it.

"Yes. It was rather impressive, you being both cop and then lawyer later on. I thought it was custom for these two careers to … How to put it? Not be very fond of each other,"

That made me laugh. Not much though, but enough to loosen me up a bit.

"Yes, that's true. I'm not one to be following such stupidity, though. I have no interest in using energy to hate on something so insignificant,"

Chief Pixis smiled, studying me further with great intensity in his eyes. I pretended not to notice by looking out the window for a short moment. I usually minded when people stared for too long, but there was no use being offensive at my new boss.

"Very interesting," He mumbled, before clearing his throat. "Well, you seem to be able enough to take this case on with me. I will fill you in tomorrow, so don't bother coming here for work. I will have my people send you the adress, and then we'll take it from there. How does that sound?"

I just nodded. When he kept looking at me I added the "Fine by me," to satisfy him.

"I will see you tomorrow then,"

I looked after him, as he turned around and walked out of the office without speaking another word. When I was sure that he was completely out, I turned around on the heel. I pounded my fist into the desk, leaning in over it to face Erwin better.

"You have a damn file on me?!"


	12. Hello, is this Eren Jaeger?

I arrived the next morning, at the adress I had been giving, stepping out of my car to fully inspect the building that I was about to walk into. I had expected a wide and tall, probably grey walls and black window frames kind of building. Something plain, like every other police station that had ever existed. Instead I was standing in front of an apartment complex, with red bricks and white window frames. It was too tall, and seemingly old. The whole neighbourhood smelled like your shit after you've ate too much eggs, and some places it even looked like someone's been using the objects to wipe themselves clean with. My nose wrinkled as I pulled my cravat over my nose to stop myself from inhaling the worst of it.

"Crap," I mumbled, as I grabbed the cell phone from my pocket and dialing the number that I was giving yesterday.

"Hello?"

"This is Levi Ackerman," I quickly informed, so no confusion would occur. "I think you gave me the wrong adress,"

"Oh? And where might you be?"

I told him the adress, and as a response he just chuckled.

"Oh my, it seems that my assistant gave you the adress of where the suspect is living, instead of where we will be discussing thus said suspect,"

I was in no mood for his little games, so I just silenced my annoyed grunt.

"Aha. Then how about you send me the right adress, before I'll get compromised before I even get started on this fucking job?"

As I waited for him to find it, I looked around to check if anybody else was walking down the street. There was a guy coming towards me, but he was far enough away for me not to be spotted.

"Ah, here it is,"

I turned around, almost anxious to get the right adress so I could get the hell out of this stinking hole.

"Are you alright, mister?" A voice come from behind me, and I turned around, surprised. How had the stranger from afar gotten here so fast? I was lucky to have such restraint on my emotions, so instead I just nodded and backed away.

"Yes, everything is fine. I'll be on my way now,"

He was smiling at me, and then just nodding as an answer. He had black hair, and was probably the tallest young man I had ever seen. His nose was the first thing I notices, as it just seemed too big for its own good. He looked kind though, wearing a pink scarf and trying to hold up two filled grocery bags in his arms.

"Bye then!" He yelled after me, as I turned around to get into my car.

I drove away as fast as I could.

\- - - - -

Sitting in Pixis' office made me wonder if he had sent me to the other place on purpose. Sometimes, you learn quicker by experiencing things first hand, instead of reading about it in a file, but just how cunning was Pixis really? I didn't ask though, and after the introductions to the other members of the case was over and Pixis started telling me about the case, I didn't think further about it.

"Reiner Braun is tall, strong and dangerous. He lives in the bad part of the city, where all the criminals keep themselves too. Though, he originally came from a good family, and raised on the countryside. The usual thing happened, though. Young boy comes to the city, gets corrupted and ends up like this," Pixis stopped to take a sip of his mug, before continuing. We where sitting inside his office in the police building that had looked exactly what I had imagined. "We are going to appeal to him, since we believe we'll have a bigger success rate with him. The other people that are in the gang does not have such colourful background story as him, as they were all born into this type of lifestyle,"

I nodded. Until now, I understood their way of thinking and their way of handling this case. It all made sense to me, so I felt no need to say anything.

"Taking him into custody and interrogating him here will only be done as a last resort. Is that clear?"

I nodded again, and so did the others around me.

"Good. Now, listen up. The objective is to lure the information out of him, since he's only small fry. There's no need to get him more involved with this, as he is not whom we are after. Levi and Ouro will be posing as guys who wants to join the gang, so you'll have to get through this guy first," Pixis took out a piece of paper and turned it around so we all could see it. It was a picture of the kid Reiner Braun, standing with another guy in front of the ocean. The guy was tall and dark-haired, and I let out a small gasp when I recognised him.

"The boy on the left is Bertholdt Hoover. He lives with Reiner, and they are seemingly close. He is the first you will encounter,"

I leaned forward a few inches, looking at the picture to be completely sure.

"I've already met the guy," I said, before turning my attention to Pixis again. "I met him when you gave me the wrong adress this morning. He tried to start a conversation with me before I drove away,"

Pixis leaned back, taking in this new information. I was sure a 100% sure that he would kick me off the case, when a smirk suddenly appeared on his face.

"Perfect,"

\- - - - - -

"I look fucking ridiculous," I cursed, as I got out of the car. "No one will ever believe that I would actually wear this shit,"

"Well, at least you're not wearing this," Ouro pulled out the golden chain from his neck, and I couldn't help but smile when I saw it, which was rare. It was so long that it almost went to his belly button, where it ended with big letters that spelled 'Bling King'.

"At the very least," I nodded. Sure, that was a horrible jewelry, but at least the rest of his clothes was seemingly normal. Mine wasn't.

My pants had been replaced by way too tight jeans, to the point where I wasn't able to bend over without showing my ass. Though, if that would ever happen I was wearing a way too big jersey. Since I could easily fit a Small, this would be at least XXLarge. To top it off, it had 'Thug Life' spelled on the back. Under it, I was wearing something that was supposed to resemble a shirt, though it was more like a fishnet. It clung to my body where it could, though the holes in it were so big that I looked more naked than was seemed normal.

"You'll go inside, I'll stay here," I ordered, and he followed it mindlessly. When he had disappeared into the building in front of us, I leaned against the car, and then proceeded to take out a cigarette and lighting it. I had quit a long time ago, but since I felt on edge and they had come with the outfit, I didn't see a problem in just taking one. Who knew how long I would be standing here? Plus, apparently it made me more 'gangster'-looking, whatever that meant.

I only had to wait 10 minutes, before he showed up. It was no coincidence, as I had been told that he took regularly trips to the store every other day. As he got closer, I just took another drag of my cigarette, acting like I hadn't seen him at all.

I could feel him looking at me from afar, and when he finally stood in front of his apartment building, instead of going in, he turned around to face me.

"You're here again?" He said hesistantly, not sure how I would answer. Probably because I had been so rude when we had meet the first time. Or maybe it was because I was dressed so differently, that he wasn't sure if it was me or not.

"That happens when you switch apartments, you know. Or is it not custom to hang out at the place you live anymore?" I said, my voice dripping with sarcasm. He blushed, looking at his feet for a few seconds.

"S-Sorry, I didn't know you lived here, so … " As his voice died out, he looked up again to face me. I studied him for a moment, my brows furrowing worriedly. We hadn't been told his personality, but I would never had guessed him being so … Soft. He was like a kid, blushing and stammering like that. Maybe I should take it easier on him, since he was clearly not someone to play hardball with. He would probably just break in two pieces.

"I just moved in," I said, sending him a smile in the process which seemed to ease him a bit. He returned it, showing his white teeth.

"Oh, really? I guess we'll be neighbours then,"

I nodded, looking around.

"This place is a dump, though," I mumbled, just loud enough to hear it. He didn't answer though, so I looked at him once more. He seemed like a good kid, which made me wonder how the hell he had ended up here.

"All this moving has made me really fucking tired," I hinted, taking a step towards him. "I could really use a break,"

At this, his face light up, and I instantly knew that I was in. It was almost too easy. We both went inside the building, talking on the way there. As we reached his apartment, I discovered that we were the only one here at the moment.

"Hey, is it cool if my roomie joins us?" I asked, already pulling my phone out to text Ouro.

"Yeah sure," Bertholdt said, as he took off his shoes and then put down the grocery bag on the kitchen counter.

"So, do you live alone?" I asked, making myself sound like I was only asking out of boredom. I walked around the living room, trying my best to snoop around discretly.

"No, I live with my friend," Bertholdt just answered, sitting down in an armchair. "He's not home though,"

"When will he be back?" I asked, turning around to look at him.

"At dinnertime," He answered before yawning. Was I boring him?

I pulled the sleeves over my hands and then letting the jersey glide off my shoulders and onto the couch behind me, before sitting down as well. I could feel him staring at me, or rather, my upper body. My biceps and abs were showing through the fishnet shirt after all.

Boys and their damn hormones.

"So what do you and your friend do for a living?" I asked casually, though I could feel my body tense a little, wanting to get as much information out of the boy as I could.

"Um, I'm a … Delivery man," Bertholdt said, and after after a moment of silence he broke into laughter. I understood why he thought it was funny, so I just forced myself to crack a little smile.

"And what do you deliver?" I asked further on, and this time I noticed how he paused. I was getting closer, and I knew that he was considering if he could trust me or not.

"You know," He just said, and then mimicked someone taking a long drag.

I forced myself to laugh this time.

"Wow man, that's pretty cool,"

I leaned forward, intertwining my fingers with each other.

"Hey, now that we're on the subject, we could actually … "

"Oh no," He interrupted me, shaking his head. "I just deliver. You gotta talk to my roomie, if you want him to hook you up,"

I leaned back, folding my hands over my stomach.

"Then I guess I'll just wait then,"

\- - - - -

I had waited for 3 hours, forcing myself to keep a conversation going with the guy. Ouro had helped though, so there wasn't really much to do. When Reiner finally came home, I discovered that he was much more paranoid than Bertholdt. He took a dislike to us immediately, even though Bertholdt put in a good word for us. I hadn't even been talking to the guy for 5 minutes, before realising that we wouldn't get anywhere with the guy.

We kept trying though, but the second Reiner noticed the gun sticking out behind Ouro's jersey, we were done playing dress up. Reiner had pulled his own gun, giving us more than enough reason to arrest him, and that was how we ended up at the police station after all.

Pixis had been more than disappointed with us, and I had to agree with him. I couldn't be blamed though, and he knew that. Sending me out there had been a risky move, no matter how much experience I had once had.

"So Levi," Ouro started off, as he sat down beside me. We were sitting outside the interrogation room where Reiner had been placed, waiting for Pixis to finish him off. I was still dressed in the ridiculous outfit, though Ouro had already changed. He was a real police officer with a closet filled with an extra set of clothes, after all. I didn't even know the location of my original clothes anymore.

"Yes?"

"How many years has it been since you were in the force?"

I couldn't be bothered to count the exact the amount of years it had been, so I just shrugged it off.

"Probably 5-6 years ago,"

"Really?" Ouro raised an eyebrow, thinking about my answer.

"How many years were you a cop then?"

"5 years,"

"Then how come you stopped? Were you shot, fired or did you quit yourself?"

"I was offered a better job," I just said, not wanting to get into detail about it. It would take too much time to explain it properly anyway.

"But taking such a big career change … Something must have happened to make you change so suddenly," He kept on, and I could feel myself getting annoyed by him prying.

"I killed 8 guys and they didn't think I was mentally stable after that, so I was moved to a desk job,"

 _That should shut him up,_ I thought to myself, and looked over at him to see his reaction.

"Oh … " He rubbed his hands together nervously, his eyes flickering. Satisfied, I leaned back, crossing my arms over my chest.

It wasn't true, of course, but I knew that he wouldn't stop pestering me about it, so I just gave him what he was expecting. Okay, maybe he hadn't been expecting something that radical, but I was allowed to have a little fun as well, wasn't I?

I counted to 10, but after already after 6 seconds, he stood up, excusing himself to go to the bathroom.

"Knock yourself out," I answered with a bored look on my face, but when he had left the room, I couldn't hold in the laughter any longer.

"Idiot," I mumbled to myself, before standing up and turning around. In front me was the usual glass plate, which allowed me to look what was happening behind it, even though they couldn't see me. Pixis was still inside, trying to force information out of Reiner, but it didn't seem to be working. I turned the sound on from the little machine that was placed on the wall beside the window, just to hear what was happening, but it seemed that their conversation was over in that exact moment. Pixis walked out of there, which gave me full visibility over Reiner. He was looking at the papers on the table in front of him, and I followed his gaze with my own. The pictures contained several dead bodies, lying in pools of blood. I was guessing Pixis had done the standard speech about how Reiner was contributing in the killing of these innocent people, even though he wasn't the one pulling the trigger.

I heard how the door opened behind me, and I turned around again in time to see Pixis walking towards me.

"He's a tougher nut to crack than I would have thought,"

I nodded, understanding what he meant.

"Have you tried the other kid? He's much more submissive than this brat,"

"We have, but he doesn't know anything. He was telling you the truth, when he said that he was just the delivery man,"

I just nodded as an answer, and then we just stood there in silence.

"Wouldn't it just be so much easier if we could read his mind?" Pixis said, probably in an attempt at a joke, but I didn't find it funny.

No, I definitely didn't find it funny at all, though it did create an idea.

"What is it?" He asked, after noticing how I had tensed up beside him.

"Nothing … " I mumbled, shaking my head. That idea was too crazy, there was no way that I could actually make it happen. There was no way that I even _wanted_ to make it happen.

"No, you seem to have thought of something. Tell me,"

I sighed, scratching my forehead. There was simply no way. I couldn't tell him about it, there was no way that he would believe me. No way that any could – it was simply just … Too crazy. He would think I was crazy.

"Really, Chief, it's nothing," I said, holding my hand up as a sign that he should stop. "It's no – "

"It's an order," He interrupted, clearly not intend on actually listening to my refusals.

"Well … " I started out, but quickly found myself not able to continue. "I may know someone who … Um,"

This wasn't a good idea. Did I even have the right to tell Pixis about him? The only thing I was sure of, was that I didn't want to mix him into this … But I also knew that we wouldn't be able to get through Reiner in any other way.

"I know a … Gifted person. He has a way of … Knowing people's secrets," I tried taking a breath, but it felt like a big lump in my throat was stopping that from happening properly. This wasn't the truth, but not a lie either.

"Like a mentalist?" Pixis asked, raising an eyebrow. I quickly shook my head.

"No no! Not at all. More like he's able to read your body language, or something like that. I don't know, really. It doesn't even matter anyway," I sighed, trying to back out of the conversation.

"Get me his phone number then,"

"But sir!" I protested. "He's just some random college student. He's not cut out for this kind of – "

"Now," He interrupted again, before turning around and leaving the room. Once again I was left by myself, but this time I wasn't relieved. More like the complete opposite.

I followed him involuntarily, and as we walked back to the office, I found the number on my phone, surprising even myself that I still had it there.

Why hadn't I deleted it?

"I can't be the one calling him," I said hesistantly, when we got into his office. "He won't come, if he knows that I'm here,"

"Oh?" Pixis said, though it seemed like nothing really surprised the man anymore. He grabbed the phone on the table in front of him, and started typing in the phone number from my own phone.

"And he can't know that you need him because of his … Um, abilities. You need to be vague," I quickly added, before he had pressed the last number.

Pixis just nodded, and then we just stood in silence while waiting for him to pick up. I could hear the low click when the other end had picked up, and a muffled voice saying hello. I could feel how my heart started beating faster, even though I wasn't able to explain why that was.

"Hi there, am I speaking to Eren Jaeger?"


	13. Somebody Get Me A Damn Shirt!

_This is bad. This is really, really bad._

With those words repeating over and over inside my head, I kept walking back and forth outside Pixis' office. It had been at least an hour since Pixis had called Eren, and after he had been told that Pixis was a cop who was requesting his presence, Eren didn't even ask what it was about before he had agreed to come out here.

I didn't want to see him, so I had stayed here, but I knew that I wouldn't be able to avoid him forever. I had to explain the situation to him after all, since I was the only one who knew about the ability of his.

 _The ability that destroyed your relationship,_ the little voice inside my head kept bugging me about. I bit down on my bottom lip, annoyed to be reminded of that, since I had worked so hard on repressing those memories.

"Sir?"

I turned around to face Oluo, who looked like he was about to shit himself of bare horror.

"U-Um … Pixis says that when he arrives, he wants to you to take him down to the interrogation rooms,"

"Is Pixis there now?"

"Y-Yes,"

I rolled my eyes at him, crossing my arms over my chest, which instantly made my biceps look bigger as they were pressed against my skin. He flinched, taking a step back. How amusing it was that his behaviour had changed already. Wasn't he supposed to be a cop? Well, I would admit that I could be pretty terrifying when I wanted to be. I sent him a smirk.

"Well, fine then. I'll be there,"

He nodded, and then walked away fast, clearly trying not to run while I could still see him.

I kept my eyes on him until he disappeared after turning a corner. Then I looked over at the desk where the secretary sat by accident, only to see someone way too familiar standing there talking to her.

"Excuse me, a man named Pixis called me about an hour ago. I was told to … " Hearing his voice made me slightly dizzy for just a second, before I finally got my act together. This was work. If I did this the right way, he would only have to be here for no more than 30 minutes, and then he would be out of my life again. I walked over there hastily, looking as emotionless as I could.

"Eren," I started out, not really what else to say. He looked up from the secretary who was looking just as confused as he looked, and his eyes landed on me. I couldn't do anything but just wait while he recognised me. It was almost amusing to see the expressions in his face change, since Eren was rather known for wearing his emotions on his sleeves. He wasn't really able to hide them away like I was.

"L-Levi … " He stuttered, taking a step back, clearly overwhelmed. "What are you doing here?"

My eyes shifted from Eren to the door, getting a little anxious. I didn't like that we were so close to it, giving him an easy escape route if I said anything to tick him off.

"I work here temporarily," I chose to tell him, crossing my arms over my chest. The fabric scratched my skin by this, suddenly making me _very_ conscious about my outfit which frankly made me both look and feel like a male prostitute.

"Can somebody please get me a damn shirt?!" I exclaimed with so much authority in my voice that at least 3 people jumped up from their desks and ran out to get me one, not actually knowing that I didn't even work here. My angry gaze had probably left an impression on them, after all, I had perfected it to do that. It worked wonders, when I needed people to do what I wanted.

Eren also noticed my clothing now, looking at me from top to toe.  
"Why do you look like that?" He mumbled, his eyes lingering a bit too long at where my abs were, before meeting my eyes again.

"I was undercover. It doesn't really matter," I shook my head. "I'm sorry to drag you down here, but – "

" _You_ made _me_ come here?" He interrupted me, his eyes getting large with surprise again.

"Yes," I nodded. "We caught a criminal, and it's really important that he gives us the information we need … But he refuses to tell us," I sighed, lowering my arms a bit.

"I was hoping that you would help us out," I said, my voice getting a little lower when I noticed the secretary looking curiously at us. I sent her a death glare. "I'm so sorry to have to do this to you Eren, but I had to try,"

I paused to look at him and see his reaction to what I had said. His mouth was slightly open, his eyes still big, but he quickly got back to normal when I stopped talking. We looked at each other for a long time, while I waited for his answer. When he finally opened his mouth to say something, it wasn't what I had expected.

"I thought you were a lawyer?"

I sighed irritated, facepalming myself.

"That's not relevant,"

Eren looked at me again, and I swear to god I could see a sparkle in his eye for a second.

"It is if you want me to help you,"

Oh, so he was going to play that game. I raised an eyebrow, making sure to look very judgemental at him and sighing loudly, showing just how much I disapproved him doing this.

"I was a cop before becoming a lawyer,"

"You were?" He looked surprised again, his voice getting a little higher when he said that. The idea of telling him the same lie as I had told Oluo entered my mind for a moment, amusing me. Eren's reaction would probably be hilarious, but then again, I couldn't really risk him getting too afraid to help me with this.

"Uh-huh," I nodded. "So will you help me or not?"

Eren stood there, looking like he was debating it with himself, but it felt more like he was dragging out the time to make me beg for it.

"Please," I added involuntarily, and that comment made him smile way more than it should.

"Okay, but then you owe me a favor," He said, and I felt like I could finally breathe properly.

"Sir!" Someone exclaimed behind me, handing me a fresh shirt that I accepted immediately.

"Thank you," I sighed, before looking back at Eren. "Follow me, this won't take long,"

We found the nearest elevator, and when we got in I ordered him to press the button that went to the lower floor. The elevator closed its doors, and when I felt it starting to move, I quickly put the shirt between my thighs so I had both of my hands free. I grabbed the fishnet shirt at the ends, and pulled it over my head in one swift move. I threw it on the floor afterwards, not really caring about what would happen to it. It could be thrown out after all I cared.

I could feel Eren watching me as I once again grabbed the shirt from my legs to put it on.

"What the fuck are you looking at?" I decided to hiss at him, and I could swear that I saw his cheeks turning af darker shade of pink before he looked away.

I quickly buttoned the shirt, and with a great timing the elevator doors opened when I had done the last button. We got out, and turned to corner to get to the interrogation room.

"Ah, there you are," Pixis said happily when we got inside the room with the mirror, and I could feel how Eren instantly tensed up when he saw where he were.

"Wow, this is like the movies," He mumbled, looking around with baffled eyes.

"Eren, this is Chief Pixis. He's the one in charge here," I introduced, and Eren quickly turned to humility, as he lowered his head and reached out his hand.

"It's nice to meet you sir,"

Pixis shook his hand, laughing.

"Yes yes, now let's get down to business,"

I stayed silent as Pixis explained the situation to Eren, so that I could study him instead.

He hadn't changed at all these last 3 months, but then again, neither had I. He tried focusing on looking at Pixis, but I could sense how his eyes flickered between me and him sometimes. Then again, that was probably my fault - I was distracting him by staring at him, probably making him feel very uncomfortable. But when he did look at me, it was only for less than a second, but my heart skipped a beat when he did it.

I don't know why, though. Surely, I was over him, that much I knew. He shouldn't still have this power to influence me like this.

"So Pixis will go in there and ask the suspect a few questions, and then you'll just … work your magic," I said hesistantly, not sure how to put it without making Pixis notice. I was still shocked that he actually bought the story that Eren was able to read body language.

However, that was still more believable than what he could actually do.

"Are you ready?" I asked him, to which he just nodded.

"Then let's do this," Pixis said, sending us both a smile, revealing his crooked front teeth, before walking out the door. 5 seconds after that, he entered the other room in front of us, and sat down in front of Reiner, who looked pissed when he recognised the old man.

Eren watched closely as they talked, doing his thing … Whatever that was. Since he was so deep into work already, I allowed myself to study his face a bit closer. This was something I had loved doing when we had been together – Eren had been lying on the sofa, or playing a game on his phone, and I would have been staring at him, trying to memorize all the beautiful little features that he had to offer. It satisfied me to notice that he had stayed the same, nothing had changed at all.

 _He's still Eren,_ I thought, the possesive side of me suddenly popping up. _My Eren._

Wait what? That wasn't something that I … The trail of my thoughts were interrupted when Eren's neck snapped as his head turned to face me. His cheeks were burning red, which quickly revealed that he had heard my thoughts loud and clear.

"Stay focused," I just hissed irritated, hitting him gently on the back of the head, before walking a few steps away from him, but the truth was that I was trying to cover my own flustered face. Damn it, I had forgotten what it felt like not to even have the privacy of my thoughts to myself.

The rest of the time I just leaned up against the table, watching Eren work from a far while I was cooling myself down. I was making damn sure not to think of anything dangerous, so I wasn't allowing to let my mind wander. I even sighed, when Pixis left the room, as it meant that this torture would soon be over. Eren turned around as well.

When Pixis entered our part of the room again, Eren didn't even hesitate.

"It seems that the location of the drug station is at a warehouse outside the city for the time being. The weapon station is at the docks,"

Pixis looked impressed, as Eren told him everything else he had gotten from Reiner's body language. He sent me an approving nod, before smiling at Eren.

"Very good. Eren, I want to have a little talk with you in my office, before you leave. If that isn't too much to ask?"

Eren shook his head, though he had looked at me with questioning eyes before that, as if he needed to see how I felt about it first.

What was Pixis planning? I had a bad feeling about it.

That feeling was quickly validated, as we were walking into his office.

"Levi, if you wouldn't mind waiting outside," Pixis asked nicely, even though I could clearly hear the order behind it.

"Yes sir," I said, throwing a worried look at the two of them before getting out of there. They stayed in there for another 10 minutes, and the whole time I sat outside of it at the nearest desk, staring at them through the blinds that put a limit on the visibility. It annoyed me greatly that I had no idea what was going on.

When Eren finally opened door, he walked over to me as the first thing.

"What happened in there?" I demanded to know, quickly rising to my feet. He looked down at his feet shyly, which only made the bad feeling in my stomach grow bigger.

"He … He offered me a job,"


	14. A Broken Nose

There had been so much more that Eren had gotten from Reiner, but since it would raise too many questions if he told it all to Pixis at once, we had to find another solution. Therefore, I had insisted on letting him come with me on a stakeout to do surveillance at the docks. This way, we would have a good reason for all the information that Eren had gotten from Reiners head. It had nothing to do with us being together again, since I had no interest in that. At all.

Nope. Not at all.

"So … We're just going to sit here?" He asked after we had arrived in the old warehouse where our stakeout would be.

"Yeah. Just sit and watch them from a far," I nodded shortly, before getting back to work. He sighed loudly, leaning back in his chair.

I could already feel how he had become comfortable around me again. There had been an awkward athmosphere in the car on the way out here, but Eren had always been famous for breaking the ice, and this was no exception. Even though we were exes, it didn't seem to matter to him. He was energic and loved to talk, even if I was the the one on the other end of the conversation. I really had no idea what was going on in his head, though.

It had been three months since our break up, and since it had been a clean cut, we hadn't seen each other since then. I had no idea what feelings he had towards me now, and it seemed impossible to tell just from the way he was acting now.

Did he hate me for what I had did?

Did he feel guilt for what he had done?

Did he still love me?

I wouldn't mind if he still felt hatred towards me, because then it would feel more equal between us. I still didn't know if I had forgiven him yet, so maybe it would be better if he hated me. The last thought, though, had left me with crimson cheeks. No, I wasn't even going to think about that. I wasn't allowed to do that, since I wasn't even sure if I would be happy, angry or sad about the answer.

"I don't get it. We already now that this blonde chick is in charge of the weapons there. Why can't we just go in there and arrest her?"

I forced myself away from the binoculars long enough to send him a deadly glare. It seemed to startle him at least, which was satisfying enough in itself.

" _First of all_ ," I started off, trying to use the most dominating, grown-up voice that I could. "There is no 'we'. You will not participate in anything else than this and back at the station. We only need you for that odd brain of yours, not for your non-existent skills in battle," I took a deep breath before continuing. " _Second of all_ , we're doing this because even though you got a lot of information from Reiner, there could still be more that we can harvest from doing this. _Third and last_ , we're sitting here because we need a reason to tell the people that we believe it's her. We can't just say that you heard Reiner thinking of the name Annie when we were interrogating her, or are you just looking for an excuse to get locked up forever?"

This silenced him, and he turned his head away from me as an obvious answer. Happy to finally have shut him up, I turned back to look through the binoculars. We sat there for another hour in silence, before Eren started moving around again.

"I'm hungry," He said, looking at me impatiently. "Levi, are we ever going to eat anything?"

When I didn't answer him, he started poking my shoulder until I slapped his hand away.

"God, you really are a shitty brat," I mumbled to myself, though I didn't move away. "Go get something yourself. There's chips in the bag,"

He turned around to get them, and soon he was sitting in his chair again, munching on them loudly. Every single bite was like torture to my ears, and I quickly found out that it was impossible to get any work done.

"Will you _please_ close that fucking mouth of yours?" I finally yelled when I couldn't take it any more. He was startled once more, but this time it didn't seem to bother him as much as before, as he kept eating away the chips, except this time he was making the bag of chips make noises as well. I grabbed the nearest object, it being a pen, and threw it at him.

"Ow! That hurts, you know," He complained, rubbing his head where it had hit him.

"I can't remember why I actually dated a brat like you," I said, leaning back in my chair. "You are so freaking annoying,"

He raised an eyebrow, looking at me with provocative eyes, as he took another handful of chips and shoved them inside his mouth.

"Oh yeah? Then why did you?"

I thought about it for a long moment, trying to remember what had started our little romance.

"Because of your tight ass, probably," I said bluntly, satisfied when he got the snacks in the wrong throat, and therefore started to cough uncontrollably.

"Whoops, sorry," I said, grinning.

"Pervert," He managed to say between coughs, which made my eyes squint in annoyance.

"You've got some nerve, little brat, to call me that when we both know that you were the kinky one in our relationship,"

"At least I wasn't sadistic," He snapped at me, throwing back another pen at me. I caught it in my hand though, to his disappointment.

"Yeah, that's true. You were the dirty, little masochist instead, weren't you?"

"I was not!" He exclaimed, though his blushing cheeks told another story.

"A-ha … Whatever you say, Eren." I answered with a shrug, just to piss him off even more. When he realised that he had no more comebacks, he snorted loudly before trampling out of the room, leaving me alone. I didn't mind though, since that meant I could finally concentrate on my work. I would probably have to stay here for the rest of the night, so it was probably better if he just stayed out of my way. After all, him being here was only for show to fool Pixis into believing that Eren was nothing more than a good body language reader.

Yet, it still amused me that we could joke around like this. I had no idea that the option to joke about our relationship was even on the table, and it was even more surprising that it had felt so easy – as if we were closer than we actually were.

Eren didn't come in any more that evening, and it was first at 2 am that he showed his face again.

"Levi, you should really go to sleep," He said sleepishly, as he came towards the chair that I was placed in. I was sleeping at that moment though, so I wasn't able to know how long Eren really stood in front of me, studying my sleeping face. Neither was I aware of how he carried me to the madrasses that we had brought, though that was what I would guess had happened, when I would wake up in the morning.

The familiar scent, that I had once been very used too, was apparently surrounding me again, and without further realisation of how it had gotten there, I embraced it, not remembering what was actually smelling like that.

"Mmmhhh … " I purred in satisfaction, as I curled up into a ball, and –

What the … I felt something surrounding my body, holding me in place, and only thinking that I was being held against my will, my body reacted on its own. My upper elbow was thrown back until it hit something and there was a breaking sound.

"Ow!" Someone whined, and as I felt the grip around me loosen up, I threw my body as far away as I could.

I stood up to get a overview over the situation. The two of our madrasses had apparently been pushed together – even though I clearly remember placing them very much apart from each other when we had arrived – and Eren was lying on the other one, though right now his arms were covering his head. I quickly walked over to him to see what the breaking sound had been.

"Oi, Eren, are you okay?" I grabbed his wrists, trying to remove his arms from his face to see better.

"You broke my nose!" He exclaimed, and as he finally stopped struggling against me, I noticed the blood on his face.

"This was your own fault. Don't try to spoon me again," I said calmly, though with a very dominating tone.

"I can't control what my body decides to do in the middle of the night!" He protested, trying to reach up to his face again. "It does things on its own, you know!"

I grabbed his hand once more, holding it down against the madras.

"How typical of you, always making excuses like that," I answered coldly, before placing myself on top of him.

"Wh-What the hell do you think you're doing?!" He exclaimed, looking astonished at me. I immediately rolled my eyes, while placing his arms under my knees so that he wasn't able to move, and I would still be able to use my own hands.

"Shut up, brat. This isn't what you think," I reached his face, grabbing his nose gently, but firmly with my fingers.. "Just try to lie still, okay?"

It was over in merely 10 seconds, yet he continued to whine about it for several minutes.

"I need to go to the hospital!" He exclaimed loudly, nudging my leg as I removed myself from him.

"Don't be so dramatic, you don't need to do that," I said, rolling my eyes. "We just need to put some ice on it, then the swelling will go down,"

His eyes were shut tight as he sat up, both his hands still covering his face. Blood was slowly dripping from his chin and down onto his bare chest, and my stupid heart skipped a beat when I finally noticed that he wasn't wearing a shirt.

Who was being hormonal now?

I quickly nudged his body down again, much to his surprise, as his eyes opened up and he looked at me in astonishment.

"What the hell?!" He groaned, but when I continued to ignore him, he just stared at me in confusion. I had found a handkerchief from my pocket, and after hesistating a bit, I finally started wiping the blood of him.

"Don't look like me like that, this is all – "

"... My own fault, yeah yeah," He finished my sentence, rolling his eyes. Silence dominated the room after that as my movements became a bit slower, his perfect skin distracting me from my original objective.

 _He really hasn't changed at all_ , I thought to myself, as I slowly slided the handkerchief just over his belly button. I stopped midway though, as I noticed something. He wasn't moving at all.

"Breathe, you idiot!" I scolded him, slapping a flat hand onto his stomach.

"I-I'm sorry … " He mumbled, looking away. It was still possible for me to notice his flustered face, though.

_Is he … Blushing?_

"I am not!" He immediately yelled, though now his face was even redder. He sounded like a child. I couldn't help but snicker lowly. "It's the blood doing that, I swear!" He added.

"Reading my thoughts again, are we?" I raised an eyebrow, making sure to look very judgingly at him, though it actually didn't affect me as much as it might should have done.

"I'm sorry … I can't help it, when I get distracted … " I heard him murmur, and when I realised what he meant, I quickly stood up again.

"Let's make this very clear, Eren Jaeger!" I said loudly, taking a step back. "We are … We are only working together now, alright? I do not have any more romantic feelings towards you, so you should be a good brat and keep that in mind!" I said, pointing my finger at him. It took a second for him to comprehend what I had said, but quickly after that, he had snorted loudly.

"Whatever, see if I care! I don't love - eh, I don't like you anymore either, hmph!"

I blushed as he said the word love, so I quickly threw the handkerchief at him to distract him.

"Well good, as long as we have that cleared up," I stated, crossing my arms over my chest. "Hold the handkerchief against your nose to stop the bleeding. I'll pack our things, and then we'll find some ice for that,"

" … Okay," He mumbled, sitting up to place the handkerchief over his nose. The hint of his abs showed up as he did that, and I had to turn around to stop the reaction that my body would be having if I had let myself indulge for too long again.

I quickly walked over to the door, turning around just to yell at him for the last time.

_"And get a damn shirt on!"_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's a little explanation to the chapter ~  
> We have to remember that Eren is still a teenager, so now all of the more annoying sides of his personality (Remember Chapter 6, with the juice glass?) is showing, and when it isn't a possibility to ignore it by doing *cough* sexy stuff *cough* to make up for the fact that he can be a little stubborn and teasing sometimes, then it's no wonder that Levi gets annoyed ... But I like the thought that Eren is also really good at making the situation feel comfortable and easy, even though he might not realise it ... That's just how he is - nice to be around. So that's why it's feels so natural and easy to be teasing each other, and talk about their relationship like that, even though none of them are over it yet.  
> The downside to this chapter is that we don't really see how Eren is feeling about this. It might seem like he is more relaxed about the whole thing than Levi, but I just see that as a part of his personality - The spooning in the morning was therefore accidental. Unconsciously, Eren misses being with Levi, which is why his body takes initiative, but in reality he isn't ready to be with Levi yet either.  
> *Sigh* It's all very complicated ... Maybe I should make a chapter with Eren's POV, so we could get a better insight to, how he is feeling about the whole thing?
> 
> Well ... I'm sorry if I'm ranting too much, but I like sharing this with you guys.


	15. BANG

After realising that both Eren's home and the police station were much further away than my own apartment, I had decided to take him there. Mostly because because he was still whining about the pain, even after we had gotten into the car. It only took me a minute before starting to yell at him for getting blood in my car, and from there on and out, we had just kept bickering until we had arrived and gotten out of the car.

"Keep your head up!"

"If I do that, then I can't see anything!"

I snorted loudly, before grabbing his hand.

"I'll lead you then. Don't fall,"

As I lead the way, his hand tightened around mine. It was probably just a reflex, him being afraid of stumbling over something, not having full control, but it still made my heart beat faster. How annoying. Immediately after we had gotten inside the elevator, I pulled my hand away with such force that you would think I had touched something rather disgusting. I tapped my foot against the floor as the elevator started moving – too slow for my taste – and even before they had opened properly, I had grabbed Eren's hand again and was hastily walking towards my apartment door.

When we got inside, Eren placed himself at the kitchen counter on one of the tall chairs, while I went to the freezer. Not finding anything better han a bag of frozen peas, I ended up settling for that and walked back to Eren.

"Oi, here." I snorted, handing it to him when I discovered that it would be impossible for me to place it on his nose by myself – his tall build and the fact that he was sitting on one of the damn high bar chairs (why the hell had I bought those again?) made it impossible for me to reach his face comfortably. I would have to stand on my toes for that, and I _never_ did that. My self-respect wouldn't be able to survive that.

Eren grabbed it, and with a sigh of relief he placed it on his nose.

"Ahh, that was much … – " His voice faded out when he turned his head in a normal position again, so that he wasn't tilting it upwards anymore. I looked at the direction his eyes had set themselves upon, and realised immediately what had interrupted his sentence.

The fucking couch.

The last place we had been together, the place we had broken up. Even our last kiss had all been there. I hadn't changed a thing, and if I could, I would probably guess that he was re-playing the scene over in his head.

Well, of course I wouldn't know for sure, since I wasn't a fucking mindreader.

"You can take the peas with you home," I said to him, walking towards the front door while doing so. "I'll drive you home. Unless you have to take a shit, then I suggest that you come with me now," I said half-jokingly, as I pulled the keys from my pockets. Erens eyes turned to face me instead, but he had a look in his eyes that I wasn't able to fully understand anyway. He didn't even answer me, instead he just stood up and walked over to me. Not saying anything either, I locked the door after us and we got out of the building. The whole way home to his apartment we hadn't spoken a word to each other, other than the time where he tried giving me directions, telling my to turn left at the next stop, and I had snapped at him, saying something like _"I still know where you fucking live, Jaeger,"._

\- - - - - 

If you put all the information that I had collected form the surveillance and the information that Eren had gathered from Reiner's head together, then it was easy to put the pieces together. The blond-headed woman called Annie Leonhardt was the leader of the gang that took care of the weapon department, and we decided in unison that even though it had been confirmed that there was three different zones, we would be taking this down as the first one. The plan was simple, really.

After observing how their shifts worked, we were able to determine how many there were, and when they changed positions.

Me, Oluo, and a short-haired women called Nanaba would be in charge of bringing it down, with the S.W.A.T.-team to back us up if necessary. The objective was to capture Anne Leonhardt, and as many of her gang members as possible. After that the place would be seized, and there would be put a stop to the black market of weaponry.

Overall, a good plan. However, even though I had been helpful in bringing this plan together, I had asked not to participate – unfortunately for me, Pixis was more headstrong than I first had given him credit for, and when I had told him my reason for not wishing to – the fact that my skills were rusty – he had found it, that an easy solution as practice was good enough. The mission, though, was already two days after that, so I had spent those only in the yard, practicing my shooting skills. Since I was already physically good to go, it was only the more handy skills that I had to re-learn. Lucky for me, I had a strong mind, and I soon remembered the things I had to learn, to utter perfection.

So to speak, I felt more than ready when we thursday at dawn had sneaked up to the nearest warehouse. I was dressed in black, a bulletproof vest over my black shirt, and a hat that was put on reverse on my head, pressing down my dark black hair. I was already holding my gun in my left hand, while the spare I had, was placed safely on my bag, hidden for anyone else to see.

The gravel under my feet gave an alarming, though muffled, sound and I felt a lump in my throat as I tried focusing on the tall woman in front of me. She was squatting, pressing her right shoulder against the warehouse wall, and once in a while she would tilt her head to look around the corner, making sure that no one would discover us.

"The two guards will go to the changed location on the other side of the building in less than two minutes. Remember, the main focus should be on finding Leonhardt. If we get to her without running into anybody else, there will be a much less chance of casualties, understood?"

I nodded, but when I realised that she couldn't see me, and whispered the answer Yes boss. I didn't really find it anything else than just amusing to be able to call her that, and it surprised even myself that I didn't really mind it. I had missed being like this, I discovered in this moment, being a cop. Feeling the adrenaline pump through your body on missions like that, knowing very well that I was risking my life everytime. It gave me a rush, and remembering that now made me smile excited, almost like a child on its birthday.

Yes boss, I understood. And good grief, was I ready. Abso-fucking-lutely.

"Let's go," Nanaba manages to huff under her breath, before starting to move. I followed her, as silently as I could, while feeling Oluo's presence behind me. I knew that the S.W.A.T.-team was waiting for our orders to move in, staying in the warehouse that we had just been sitting at. By just the push of the button that was positioned on my left shoulder, they would be at the weaponry in under 10 seconds. It felt nice to know that you had back up like that, especially since you were only three people that would be infiltrating the place in the first round.

We left a slight trail of dust behind us from the gravel, but otherwise managed to get to the outer part of the warehouse, where the weaponry was.

"Oulo and Levi, you'll go left. I'll go right. Understood?" She turned her head to look at us just in time to see us nod, before silently running off and turning the corner. I couldn't help but look after her, my eyes lingering at the corner, as the feeling of respect rushed over me.

She was impressive, I'd give her that.

"Ready?" Oluo said under his breath, and I turned around to face him.  
"Let's," I answered, standing up to straighten my back, before we started running again. When we got to the door, we discovered a rusty ladder that led to the second floor of the building.

I grabbed it to see if it was still usable, and to my satisfaction, it was.

"I weigh less, so I'll go this way. We'll have a better chance of finding her this way,"  
Oluo looked at me with uncertainty in his eyes, not sure to let me go my own way and separating us in the action.

"Stop being a wuss, you'll be fine," I growled at him lowly after feeling like I was waiting for nothing, just wasting time. In reality, Oluo was my superior as well, but I still ended up taking the benefit of him fearing me a bit, and started crawling up the ladder.

Halfway there it started making odd sounds, whining and bemoaned the extra weight that I had added to it. I couldn't help breaking a nervous sweat on my forehead, as I tried to rush my movements. Realising that I couldn't crawl any faster, I just took a deep breath and made a little prayer in my head to God, if anything should happen. This was not how I was going to die though, as I finally reached the window that was right beside the ladder. It was not supposed to be a way to get inside through there, as the ladder went all up to the roof, and the window was even closed. But with a few hand tricks, I had removed the old screws at the bottom, and it was the best timing in the world. The ladder made a loud breaking sound as it freed itself from the wall, and started falling into pieces, landing on the ground with very loud noises following soon after.

I had just grabbed the window ledge, and with a single pull I had gotten myself inside. I found myself to be very high up, but I soon realised that this was at my advantage. There was at least ten people in the room beneath me, but none of them would ever feel the need to look all the way up here, making my spot quite a good hideout.

"Ma'am, did you hear that? Something's going on outside!" One of the men had exclaimed, and that was when I finally noticed her.

All ten of them were all gathered around a table, and she was sitting at the end of it. She had leaned forward for a moment, giving me a chance to see her light blond hair for a second or two, before pulling back again. The chair wasn't facing me correctly, so I wasn't able to see her – but at least she wasn't able to notice me either.

"Go check it out," I heard the woman voice say, and since the rest of them were men, I was guessing that it was Annie's voice as well.

"Carlton, Ben, Tom, Micheal, Moll, Jerry. Go check it out," She said, and wavered her hand at the exit, a staircase at the end of the room. Over half of the men left, six in total, leaving back four others.

Great. I just had to get past these guys to get to Annie, but it near to impossible. While Annie might be turned with the back towards me, all the men was facing her on the other side of the table, giving them full access to notice if I tried sneaking up behind her.

I had to distract them somehow.

An idea had the perfect timing to occur in my head, as I looked down to the floor under me. There were several large boxes placed on top of each other, giving me plenty of space to hide myself. Hoping that I wouldn't make too much noise, I jumped down, landing on both feet like a cat. I hurried over to the three boxes that would be able to cover me, before I looked around. There was literally nothing else than sealed boxes, so I wouldn't be able to throw with anything that could make any sound, unless it was something that I had brought myself. I started rummaging around in my pockets, cursing under my breath as I realised that they were all empty. The only things that I had with me was … Oh.

I grabbed the extra pistol from my back, looking at it for a second, trying to feel the weight of it in my hand.

I then proceeded to unlock the trigger.

_This is perfect_ , I thought to myself, and not waiting a second longer I straightened my back and threw it as far away as I could. A loud bang was heard, and I knew that the pistol had gone off when it had hit the ground. I didn't even have time to hope that the bullet would have hit one of the guys.  
"What the … Are we being attacked!?" I heard somebody say, and I knew that this was the only change I had. I threw my body forward, my pistol ready in my left hand if anything was to happen. All of the four guys had their attention elsewhere, and I almost couldn't believe how lucky I had just been. Or how stupid they really were.

I reached the chair, grabbing the top of it and pulling it backwards.

"Ah!" Annie yelped as she followed right after, landing on the floor. I took no chances, grabbing her hair roughly as I pulled her up to stand, before placing my left arm around her throat, pressing her body tightly against mine. I held the tip of the gun against her temple, placing my forefinger on the trigger, while placing my thumb on the one that unlocked the thing.

"Nobody moves!" Was the only thing I could get myself to say, the adrenaline rushing to my head so fast that I forgot what else to do. Since both of my hands were occupied, I tilted my head to press against my right shoulder, pressing the button that would activate the S.W.A.T.-team.

But only seconds after doing that, we could hear shots being fired from downstairs.

_But that isn't supposed to happen_ , I thought to my self, suddenly feeling uneasy. The team was quick, but they weren't that quick - had something happened with Nanaba or Oluo?

As I lost focus for that one moment, I suddenly felt an elbow being stabbed for a second, and before I can react, Annie has moved out of my grip, turning around to face me.

"Fucking cops," She says, spits on the floor, and before I can do anything else, she pulls out a gun from her pants. I remember thinking _How didn't I see that?_ Before her hands turns upwards and shoots me.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter will be Eren's POV.


	16. Eren's POV 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is only part 1, since the original chapter was too long. Next chapter will therefore also be in Eren's POV ... Here's to hoping that you won't mind.

I snorted loudly as an response to my mother saying goodmorning as she walked into the kitchen, wearing nothing but a bathrobe and a pair of bunny slippers that both matched with their horrible, pink colours.

"Damn mom. Ready for Miss America in 10 minutes? You just need your crown and then you're ready to go," I snickered, which earned me a slap in the back of my head.

"Don't get all sassy towards your own mother," She just answered, though she wasn't good at hiding her smile.

I continued to eat my cereal, as I watched her pull several ingredienses out from the cupboards. I observed her for a moment, before opening my mouth again.

"What'cha doing?" I asked in a sloppy manner, my mouth still half-filled with cereal.

"Pancakes," She said, before she started to hum.

"Um … Do you not see me eating? Hello?" I said, confused. "I don't want any pancakes,"

"Excuse me, young man, but I don't always have to only tend to _your needs_ , alright?" She said, turning her head to send me a wink. I rolled my eyes, trying to strangle to laughter in my throat.

"Well, well, well, somebody wanna be luxurious and spoiled today, hmm? Is it a special day or something? Is there anything I'm supposed to know?" I asked, suddenly a little intrigued. She tensed up immediately by that comment, which only made me more interested.

"Mom?" I asked again, before standing up to take the empty bowl over to the sink to pour out the rest of the milk.

"Nothing special. Just wanna spoil myself," She quickly said, and suddenly she grabs my wrist and pulls me close in a hug, starting to suffocate me in kisses all over the face.

"Moooom!" I whined, pulling away. She lets go of me, grinning.

"Sorry honey,"

She starts humming again, and with that, I leave the kitchen to head to my room. It's friday today, and I have to make myself presentable for school. Well, not only because of school – Chief Pixis told me to head into the police station again after school, so it's mostly because I don't want to let anybody down by being sloppy.

Just thinking about my newly given job, gives me the chills. The fact that I'm actually using my ability for something that is usual for society … It had never really occurred to me before now, that _that_ had been a possibility.

And it was all thanks to Levi.

I snorted loudly by that last thought, almost to the extent of being irritated. I really didn't feel like owing the guy anything.

After putting on a jersey and my tight, black pants, I started gathering my school stuff into my old, leather bag. I threw it over my shoulder, huffing a bit when I feel the actual weight of it. I didn't expect it to be _that_ heavy, but then again, the project in English requited quite the heavy objects to succeed in it.

"See you tonight!" I yelled while running down the stairs, though not really expecting an answer. I put on my shoes, and soon I was out the door and on my way.

It always felt like forever to actually get to school, and this day was no different. When I finally arrived, Armin was already waiting for me outside the gate.

"Hey you," I said, placing an arm around his shoulders and giving him a light nudge. He snickered slightly, before starting to talk about our project.

"By the way," He says, as we walk into the class and finds our seats. "Can you hang out after school? Then we could get a little jump ahead, you know, so we wouldn't have to stress over it the last minute,"

"But that's what I do best!" I protested, before grinning. "Ah, but no, sorry. I have plans after school,"

Armin leaned forward over his table, resting his chin into his palm before continuing to stare at me with intrigued eyes.  
"Oh really? You've hardly been free at all after school this last week … What's going on with you?"

I am immediately reminded how I haven't told Armin about my new job yet. To irritate him further, I just wink and say "I'll tell you later," just before the teacher walks in and class starts.

\- - - - -

The day is long and boring, and I only seem to wake up from my constant daydreaming when we have breaks between classes. The longest of them all, lunch break, is when I finally feel the energy coming back to me, as me and Armin head outside to sit on the grass in the sun, in an attempt to enjoy the weather.

"So tell me," Armin begins, taking a bite of his sandwich. "What's going on with you?"

I don't know what to say, so I just end up with a shrug and instantly after I recieve a friendly nudge from Armin.  
"Come on, spit it out!"

I knew very well that Armin wouldn't like hearing about my new job, so I just postpone as much as I can, like the coward I am. I know that I can't lie to Armin, even if I tried.

"I got a job," I started out, and Armin instantly lights up in a smile.

"That's great! Doing what?"

"Um … I'm a consultant for the police, or – well, that's the official title," I say, looking down at the rye bread in my hand. I don't want to see how Armin's smile falters, because surely it does.

"What?! Eren, you can't be serious. How did you get that job? Does anybody now about … " His voice fades out as he doesn't know how to continue.

"No, they think I'm just good at reading body language," I say, and then giggles about how ridiculous that really is. Armin looks at me as if I have lost my mind.

"How did you even get hired? How is it possible? Did you walk in there yourself, or?"

I bit my lip, looking at the sky, since what will be coming next definitely won't be pleasant.

"Levi asked me for help with a case. Apparently I solved it, because the Chief was impressed and offered me the job to help with more cases,"

"WHAT – " His shrieking is so loud that I have to cover my ears.

"Jesus Christ, Armin!" I said, looking at him with large eyes.

"How dare he! Eren, listen to me – You don't owe that man anything, do you hear? Nothing!"

I nod quickly, actually a bit terrified by how Armin was acting. This wasn't like him at all.  
"I know, I know! But he wasn't the one who called me, and when I was already at the police station, that was where I discovered that he was behind it all … And by then, I couldn't actually say no," I said, a bit embarassed.

"So he _tricked_ you?!" Armin gasped, before suddenly pulling out his phone. "I'm calling Mikasa, she'll kick his ass,"

"Armin, no!" I yelp, as I tear the phone away from him. "Have you gone mad?"

"Have _you_?" He says, crossing his arms stubbornly. "You should not have helped him, Eren! He doesn't deserve your kindness,"

I blush, and immediately feel awkward.

"Th-Thanks Armin, but really … I don't mind," That was a small lie, but I needed to tell him something to calm him down.

"How can you not? He broke your heart!" Armin exclaimed, maybe just a tad too loud. Silence overpowers the athmosphere after that, since I don't answer immediately. Instead, I just reach up to place a hand over my heart, and looking down at it while doing so. I bite my lip, as the horrible memory runs through my mind once more.

"I know he did … But I picked up the pieces, and now it works just fine again, right?" I finally say, tilting my head upwards to look at Armin again, who looks absolutely terrified of the thought that he might have hurt me while just trying to show me that he cared.

"E-Eren, I'm sorry … "

"No, it's fine," I interrupt, placing the hand on Armin's shoulder now. "I'm fine. Really, Armin, don't worry about me … It's great. With this job, I feel like I can actually help people. I feel really useful,"

Armin smiles vaguely, but I can see his eyes flickering with worry.

"Alright, if you say so … "

\- - - - -

As school ends, I decide on walking instead of taking any of the public transportation systems. It will take me double the time to get to the police station, but it doesn't matter, because I would have been there way too early if I had done it the other way. This way, I would be right on time, _and_ I would get some exercise as well. It feels nice to finally be alone. Since I'm constantly surrounded by either friends or family, I sometimes feel like I'm drowning.

Like I'm drowning in a sea of no water, and everyone around me goes along with their lives, feeling fine as always.

I stopped when I reached the tiny, little park on the right side of the sidewalk. I decided to take a quick walk inside, with no real motives as to why. Or that is what I believed – my body suddenly stops when arriving in front of a large tree, and I end up just standing there, staring into the bark.

It had felt so weird, when Armin had gotten so upset on my behalf. It was like he had sucked all the anger out of me, and into himself instead.

And now I was standing here, staring into a tree.

I clenched and unclenched my fists, trying to decide what I wanted … No, what I was supposed to do next. Why had Armin gotten so angry? I ask myself again. And why hadn't I?

I remember when I had come home that day, three months ago. My mom hadn't been home, and I had the whole house for myself. Not having anybody to talk to, not even having any thoughts invading my head, had made the silence unbearable. I had started to scream inside the kitchen, just to remove the silence, but everytime I had needed to breathe in and out again, the silence had come again. No matter how much I screamed and yelled, the silence was just like a boomerang – it just kept coming back to haunt me all over again.

The first thing that had entered my mind hadn't been music. I had accidentally hit the table, and a glass that had been placed too close to the edge, had fallen down and broken into a million pieces. The sound it had made, though, was just what I needed. After that, I had pretty much ruined the whole kitchen, throwing around with our spoons, plates, glasses and everything else that I could get my hands on.

In the end, I had ended up sobbing on the floor, until the police showed up. Apparently, the neighbours had thought that somebody was being murdered or something and called the cops, but as I had tried to explain the situation to them through my loud sobs, my mother had come home and sent them away in the end.

After that, I hadn't been alone since. Sure, I could be in my room alone, but my mom was always home when I was. And when I was in school, my friends were there with me. I had been very silent the first couple of weeks, mourning in silence. And after that, I had went back to my normal self.

I started to nudge the tip of my right shoe against the tree, just tapping it lightly.

I had thought, that if I just acted like everything was alright, then it would eventually become alright. If I forgot him, he would disappear from my life. Yet, I always found myself thinking about him when I went to bed, lying in the silent bedroom as I tried to go to sleep.

What was he doing right now? Was he sad like I was? Or was he over me? Was he happy? Had his foot healed properly? Was he eating healthy?

It was stupid thoughts, I knew that, but I couldn't help but think about him. I hated him, yes, but I also still loved him.

How could I not?

My foot started hitting the tree harder, and at some point my hands had joined in as well, hitting it with only mediocre strength.

I hated myself for still loving him. I hated him, and I hated myself, and it was all so messy. Sometimes I would imagine scenarios in which I had told him about everything sooner. Where I had confessed my innermost secret, the worst part of my being, but for some reason, I didn't imagine him being understanding. In my dreams, he never was. So I came to the conclusion, that he would probably feel betrayed either way.

I also came to the conclusion that there never had been a good time to tell him. I couldn't have told him in the beginning, because he would probably just have thought that I was crazy. And the first couple of weeks that we were together had been weird and messy, and we hadn't gone through the standard stepping stones that normal couples did.

But it had still been perfect. It had been so fucking perfect and I had ruined it with whatever was wrong inside my head, that had made me to the freak that I was.

I had fucking ruined it, and I understood why he had felt the way he had felt.

I pressed my palms against the tree, pulling back and then repeating the action. I wasn't realising that I was actually hitting the tree.

But then again … Could I not catch a fucking break? People I had loved had left me before because of my freak ability, and I had thought that Levi would be different. Not because I had loved him, but because _he had loved me_.

Or hadn't he loved me enough?

Before I had noticed, I had gone berserk on the poor tree in front of me, which had caused my knuckles to bleed extensively.

_Couldn't I catch a fucking break?!_

I was gasping for air, as I fell to my knees and soon I started to sob.

When I finally stopped, silence surrounded me once more, until I felt like I was being suffocated.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sentence of the day: I'm calling Mikasa, she'll kick his ass!  
> Oh, I just love writing Armin as a great friend. I love Armin!


	17. Eren's POV 2

When my phone started vibrating in my pocket, I didn't hesitate to take it.

"Hey, this is Eren!" I chirped, glad that my voice wasn't suffering from the aftereffects of crying anymore.

"Eren, this is Chief Pixis. Has something happened to you? You were supposed to be here 10 minutes ago,"

My heart skipped a beat, when hearing that.

"I am so sorry, sir. I'll be there right away!"

I hung after that, and ran the rest of the way, hoping and praying that I wouldn't get scolded too badly for being late. I still didn't know what kind of guy Chief Pixis was, as he could send very mixed signals from time to time.

Arriving at the police station like a stammering mess wasn't as bad as I thought. Chief Pixis had just come over to clap me on my back, telling me to breathe regurlarly and "Don't make this a habit", before telling me to follow him. I did as I was told, no questions asked, though I felt reather intrigued about what I should be doing today. Which bad guys I could help get settled in jail. I smiled by the thought, ready to get working.

"Reiner only knew more personal traits about Leonhardt than any of the other two gang leaders and their zones. But he was only a small fry – Leonhardt on the other hand is someone entirely different. She is very intelligent, and very dangerous. I'll try my best to push her buttons, but I'm afraid that she's the kind that doesn't show emotions very easily,"

_Just like Levi_ , I thought to myself, though not saying it out loud.

"I'll manage, Chief," I nodded, giving him a thumbs up and a smile. He just shook his head, grinning, before turning around and walked into the interrogation room. I went into the other room that was just next to it – the one with the one-sided mirror that would let me look at the criminals, but they couldn't see me.

I felt pretty badass right now – I couldn't wait to get in, and – _what_?

I blinked a couple of times, too shocked to react properly. In front of me sat a beautiful young woman, probably only one or two years older than me, with her arms crossed. She had a large nose, and her stoic face showed no expressions at all, but I still couldn't shake the feeling that there was something special about her.

Was this girl really a criminal? I almost couldn't believe it.

Pixis started firing questions at her, most of which she didn't answer, but she did the mistake of thinking them though, and I took advantage of that immediately. I had gotten the great of bringing a notebook with me, so I could get all of the details with me. Her thoughts lacked most of these, however, yet I still got a lot of good material that the cops could work with.

_That Levi could work with_ , I thought to myself, before shaking my head excessively. I needed to stop thinking about him – it didn't help me in any way.

Yet, it still made me wonder where he were. He was usually around whenever I was here as well, but today it was different.

I decided to ask Pixis after we were done, and then I focused on the Leonhardt girl once more.

\- - - - -

_I could feel the nervousness grow larger inside of me as I walked inside the police station. Had I done something wrong? In my head I tried to go over all the things that I had done that could have resulted in being called to the station by the Chief himself, but none of them seemed quite right._

_What else was left? My ability?_

_To my surprise, I could feel a strange feeling of dissappointment. I had somehow always imagined that FBI guys in black suits would come to get me in the middle of the night, if it would ever come out what I could do._

_No, this was way too normal for that._

_"Excuse me," I said, and the pretty, blond secretary looks up and smiles automatically. She probably does that a thousand times a day – it must be quite exhausting, I could imagine. "My name is Eren Jaeger. I was calling about an hour ago. I was told to just tell you that I had arrived?" I said, but the secretary does nothing but smile – it's in her eyes that I can see the confusion. She has clearly no idea what I was talking about …_

_Perhaps it had been a joke of some sort?_

_"Eren," A familiar voice suddenly says, and my neck snaps so hard when I turn my head to see the person that the voice belongs to. I recognised him immediately, yet I was still going through feelings such as astonishment, surprise, confusion and horror._

_What the hell was he doing here? Of all people, I had to run into him?_

_"L-Levi … " I stuttered, taking a step back, overwhelmed by the fact that I was actually talking to him again. "What are you doing here?"_

_I almost couldn't believe it. I never thought I would see this man again, and now that I had, I didn't know how to feel. Should I be crueler to him? Nicer? How should I act? I fiddled with my jacket's buttons, to keep my hands busy._

_I was afraid that if I wasn't doing anything with them, they would act on their own and hit him. I imagined how that would be, hitting him in the face. Would I feel satisfied?_

_Would it remove the empty feeling in my stomach?_

_"I work here temporarily," He said, before suddenly yelling something about a shirt. I was taken aback by this, honestly a bit scared. I suddenly remembered how terrifying he could be …. Yeah, I should definitely not try to be cruel in any way. That wouldn't end very well, even if I had every right to treat him whatever I liked.  
"Why do you look like that?" I asked, letting my eyes study him for a second. His abs were so clear through the shirt, that I couldn't help but notice._

_"I was undercover. It doesn't really matter. I'm sorry to drag you down here, but – "_

_"You made me come here?" I said, surprised. I didn't see that coming at all. Why would he … ? I thought he hated me._

_"Yes," He nodded. "We caught this guy, and it's really important that he gives us the information we need … But he refuses to tell us,"_

_Oh. I could already see where this was going. He wanted me to help him. My hands clenched into fists for a second, as I felt the anger fill up my body._

_"I was hoping that you would help us out. I'm so sorry to have to do this to you Eren, but I had to try,"_

_I looked at him, shocked, all the previous anger dissappearing from my body. I knew that Levi had a hard time asking people for help, but the way that he had said that … I couldn't concentrate when he was sweet talking me like this._

_"I thought you were a lawyer?" I ended up blurting out, not knowing what else to say._

_"That's not relevant,"_

_I raised an eyebrow, trying to suppress a chuckle. That was so typical of him, to avoid shit like that. Well, this time I wasn't going to let him._

_"It is if you want me to help you,"_

_"I was a cop before becoming a lawyer,"_

_"You were?" I asked surprised, coughing distreectly actually noticing that my voice had turned so high-pitched. How embarrassing._

_"Uh-huh. So will you help me or not?"_

_I wasn't sure what to say. I really wanted to just get out of here os quickly as possible, forgetting that this ever happened, but then again … I couldn't help but feel intrigued. With or without Levi, it did actually sound interesting. And if I could be to any help at all … Then it couldn't be so bad, right?_

_"Please,"_

_"Okay, but then you owe me a favor," I finally said, crossing my arms. I was very certain on the fact, that I wasn't doing this because of Levi, but it couldn't hurt to have him owe me a favor._

_The truth was, though, that I was doing this for myself. I wanted to see if I could actually do something good. I had always believed that I was useless and freaky because of this ability of mine … But what if it was the total opposite?_

_What if my future wasn't as hopeless as I thought it would be?_

\- - - - -

Pixis and I didn't really have any way of communicating when he was in there and I was in here, he ended up being in there, shooting questions at her for a longer period of time than he actually had to. I had gotten a lot of material, and Annie's thoughts just kept thinking about the same things in the end, so in the end I was just waiting for him to finish. Relieved when he finally left the interrogation room and entered into the other room, I just to my feet, ready to give him whatever I would be able to. Levi wasn't here to help me today, so apparently I had to lie all on my own.

"Um … Well, you see – " I started out, a bit nervous, as I clutched the notebook to my chest, biting my lip while trying to figure out how much details to give him. I didn't get far though, as Chief Pixis placed a hand on my shoulder that told me to relax.

"Jaeger, you are a very special young man. Officially, you are a consultant here at the police station, and that can mean many things. In the end, I don't really care about how you find out what you do, as long as I get good results," He said, looking at me intensively. "I'm saying, Jaeger, that you don't have to shorten the material of information that you got, just to hold up a silly facade … You'll just be wasting manpower, ressources and the tax payers money. Do you understand?"

I nodded slowly, trying to comprehend what he had said.

"So … You knew?" I asked in astonishment, raising both eyebrows.

"Do you really think I was that stupid? Body language? Oh sweet lord Jesus," He said, chuckling for himself. "I suggest that you have a little more faith in me next time, Jaeger,"

I nod, holding out the notebook so that he can take it. He opens it up on page one, reading through it quicker than I would have expected. There are two more pages like that, but he doesn't look at them though.

"Good job, Jaeger. I'll be taking this back to my office, if you don't mind,"

I shake my head, to afraid to do anything else. For some reason, I feel rather terrified by him right now, since he seemed to be in that kind of mood where you either can turn very sweet or very mean.

"Come back with me," He says, and without waiting for an answer, he starts walking. I follow like a lost puppy, and it is first when we arrive at his office that I remember what I was supposed to be asking him.

"Hey, Chief Pixis?" I ask, and he raises an eyebrow as a sign to let me continue. "Where is Levi?"

"Ah," He created a pop sound when he smacked his lips together, and I get a slight shock. "He was hospitalized after trying to catch Leonhardt and shut down their zone,"

I don't really know what to say, or what to feel, so I just keep looking at him.  
"What happened to him?"

"He was shot two times in the chest and in the arm. He'll survive … " Pixis looks up in the ceiling, as if he tries to remember something that he has forgot. " … I think,"

Then he turns around and leaves me standing to myself, a hint that I'm done for the day. However, I feel like I can't even move anymore, as if my feet has turned to cement. When I finally force myself to turn around, the door behind me is opened once more.

"If you want to visit him, he is hospitalized at – "

"No!" I interrupted him, just in time. I didn't want the opportunity to do so. "No thank you, sir. I don't want to see him," I add, before starting to walk away.

And it was true. I really didn't want to. He could die in that hospital, and I wouldn't give two farts in space about it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sentence of the Day: "I wouldn't give two farts in space,"
> 
> So that's the end of Eren's POV ... for now. The middle part of this chapter his just a flashback of chapter 13, but through Eren's eyes.


	18. A Cloudy Mind

"Oh, please, it's barely a flesh wound! You have got to be kidding me!" I yelled, hitting the table in front of me rather violently. The sudden pain shot through my veins and connected with the fresh wound, and I had to use all my strength to keep up my stoic face, when I just wanted to cry out in pain.

_Fuck, that hurt._

"Don't be a fool, Levi. You're wounded, and that's enough. I won't allow you to go any further," Pixis said, crossing the one leg over the other. He was sitting at the side of my hospital bed in a chair that one of the nurses had brought in. "It might even have been a bad idea bringing you into this operation in the first place – "

"Are you _fucking_ kidding me? You would never have gotten this far without me!" I continued to yell, my anger and frustration starting to shine through my voice. Pixis didn't even flinch at this, he just continued to look at me, _observing and studying._

"That might be true as well. I'll take it into consideration," He just said, leaning back in his chair for a second before taking a deep breath, preparing his body to stand up.

"Hold it right there! You can't just pull me around like a puppet, I have the right to continue participating in this operation, you – " At this point, I was just grasping at straws, not even making sense in my own head anymore.

"As I recall, you weren't even that amused with the idea of doing this in the first place. This is my fault, getting you invovled like this, and of course I'll take full responsibility,"

"You'll do no such thing!" I said, my vision getting red with rage. At least I had gotten my voice under control, since instead of yelling, it had now become cold and chilling. "There is no need to take full responsibility, because I'm not done with this operation yet,"

"Well," Pixis made a _pop_ sound when he smacked his lips together, and for a second I actually thought I saw him smile. "If you insist, then I guess I can't stop you,"

In that second I almost felt like he had played me, but I couldn't figure out the reason behind it, so it was quickly dropped.  
"Good," I just said, before leaning back in my bed once more, all the negative emotions seeping out of me as I had finally gotten what I wanted.

"I've talked with the doctor by the way," Pixis said after standing up and pushing the chair up against the wall behind him. "You'll be released tomorrow. Being shot in the chest should probably have left greater damage, even though you had a bulletproof vest on, so I guess you could call yourself lucky,"

I rolled my eyes, not believing in luck, but I didn't say anything. I had a feeling that Pixis would continue talking wether I would answer him or not.

As he kept talking, he went over to one of the machines that I was hooked up to, pressing a little, yellow button. I didn't know what it did, and I certainly didn't feel any different, so I decided not to say anything about it.  
"It appears that none of your ribs have broken or are suffering from pressure in your chest. But your arm is a different case all together,"

"It's a damn flesh wound, don't make it such a big deal," I said, my voice filled with annoyance. I wasn't about to let such a superficial wound stop me from doing my job, and since the bullet went right through, then I couldn't really see the problem.

"It could have been much worse, yes, but it still needs time to heal, or else the doctors won't know what could happen to your arm if you strain it,"

"Got it," I just said, wanting this conversation to be over sooner than later. I didn't need a lecture on taking care of my own body.

"Well then … " Pixis looked down at me, as if he was considering if there was anything else he wanted to add before leaving.

"Yes?" I asked, raising an impatient eyebrow.

"Well … I think I'll check how Oluo and Nanaba are doing,"

"You go ahead and do that," I said, crossing my arms over my chest tightly, my sight not leaving his for a second. "Anything else?"

I could sense his hesitation. There was something, he just didn't now how to say it.

"I don't believe there is," Pixis finally ended up saying, though there was a rather sad smile on his face. "I'll be sure to tell them you said hi,"

"You'll do no such thing,"

Pixis only laughed at that, before he walked out of my little room, and I was soon left to myself.

As the silence surrounded me I straightened my back, not feeling tired at all. Talking to Pixis had only giving me back the motivation that I so greatly needed, which meant that I didn't need to sleep any more. But as I looked around I noticed something lying beside my legs, on top of the blanket.

"You have got to be kidding me," I mumbled annoyed, when I grabbed the small envelope on the side of my bed.

Had this been here the entire time? Or had Pixis left it here when he left?

I looked closer, only to realise that I was holding a letter that was meant for Oluo. Then what the hell was it doing in here?

Annoyed that I now had to return it yet happy that I had an excuse to get out, I swung my legs over the bedside while throwing the blanket to the end of the bed. Luckily I wasn't wearing one of those embarassing hospital gowns that had holes in the back that didn't cover your ass – sure they were great for when you had to take a huge shit, but not for when you wanted to walk through the hospital. I was instead wearing pyjamas pants, the colour was a light shade of sand with small, blue dots on them. I wasn't really wearing a shirt, other than the gauze that was just beneath my chest, covering the entire area where my ribcage was supposed to be. Another set of gauze had been tightly placed around my left upper arm to cover up the wound from the bullet. But I sadly didn't have any more clothes to cover myself up with other than the blanket, and that would just be inconvenient in the long run. It appeared that my arm was still hooked up to the IV fluid that was hanging from the rack, so I had to take that with me. When I stood up I noticed something even more annoying; the rack was even taller than I was. I grabbed it, glad that it had smalls wheels on it, so that it wouldn't be so troublesome to walk around it.

However, when I took my first steps towards the door, I immediately understood why it was first tomorrow that I would be released from here; all air was being pressed out of my lungs, and I found myself already out of breath. When had it become so difficult to breathe?

As I gasped for air, I opened the door and continued walking out of there, though at a much slower pace now than before. Instead of only slightly holding the rack, I was now holding it with both of my hands, almost holding onto it as if my life depended on it. My knuckles were become white with the intensity of the grip, and I bent my back slightly so that I could lean my shoulder and neck against it as well. The cold metal felt nice against my skin that as a contrast was burning up already. I took a deep breath to prepare myself before taking another step, then another, then another … Slowly I was making my way through the hallway that sudenly seemed longer than it had before.

The nurses was nowhere to be seen it seemed, giving me enough opportunity to look around without getting disturbed by middle aged, chubby women in white uniforms that were a size too small, telling me to get back to bed.

Imagining it made me giggle under my ragged breath, and it didn't even occur to me at that moment that the lack of air was making me too dizzy and nowhere near stable enough to make good decisions. So of course I just kept on going, until I heard voices. I tried remembering what I had been told at one point of the day, about which rooms Nanaba and Oluo was staying in. They were supposedly to stay on the same floor as me, in … Was it Room 313, or 311? I stopped outside the room with the voices, trying to see what it said.

313.

Well, fifty-fifty percent chance that I was right. Here's to hoping that it wasn't some demented old man who thought I was his grandson.

It was a sliding door, so only with a light touch it opened up, revealing only 2 people inside the small room. It was just as small as my own, filled with only a hospital bed in the middle, the night stand beside it and a small chair on the other side. Of course these things were nothing of importance to me; the only thing I was noticing was the familiar face attached to the person standing beside the bed.

_Eren._

Yet, there was something strange about the whole setting. It was Oluo lying in the bed, but Eren wasn't just standing beside him, no. His right hand was placed on Oluo's wrist, while his left hand was placed on top of Oluo's forehead. This made my cheeks fluster in annoyance, and I had no strength to hold back the sudden rage that rushed through my body.

"Get your hands off him!" I exclaimed, and though there was no real strength in my voice, my point got through to them anyways. Eren looked up in fright, jumping back and thereby removing his hands from Oluo, who was looking rather terrified as well.

"What's wrong?" They both asked in unison, their frightened faces turning into confusion.

"How dare you touch him like that!" I kept at it, not knowing how to even stop myself at this point. Eren seemed to finally understand, as his brows furrowed and his left hand clenched itself into a fist.

"I can touch whomever I want to. That's really none of your business,"

It had looked so intime, though. As if Oluo was someone that Eren cared for – that he wanted to get better … We had all been in the hospital for over 2 days now, so the sight of Eren touching him like that … Of course; it was jealousy I felt. I was angry that he was touching Oluo like that, since he wasn't doing that to me. In fact, he hadn't really come to visit, or to see how I had been feeling.

"It _is_ my business!" I tried, but the remark was left empty and shallow. I was only grasping at straws right now, and I didn't even fully understand why.

Maybe it was because of my mental state not being fully stable right now, and I could feel that something was very much wrong with my body right know … Yet I continued, almost like I couldn't even stop myself. What was going on?

"It isn't! If I choose to be with Oluo, then that's my choice, okay?" He exclaimed, looking at me with eyes burning with passion.

"W-Wait, what? You like me?" Oluo stammered from the bed, which only earned him a slap on the arm from Eren.

"Ew, _no_! It's just an example," He quickly said, his hands reaching up in front of his face, trying to wave them excessively.

This was my chance to jump in – I went forward, grabbing his wrist and pulling him towards me. I had no real strength though, giving Eren a rich opportunity to get away from me quickly after.

"What the hell? What are you doing?" He whined, taking a step back. But now that he was closer to me, he suddenly froze up, staring at me like I was crazy.

"Levi … You look … " He was speechless after that, not knowing what to say. I tried blinking with my eyes in an attempt to remove the blurry edges of my vision, however, it seemed as if it wouldn't be going away.

"I look what?" I growled with irritation, as I reached out to grab him again. He stepped back again, his eyes getting larger.

"You don't seem like yourself," He mumbled, but this statement only made me even more irritated.

"Excuse me? I'm fine. It's you who doesn't seem to understand – "

I was interrupted by Eren staying, "Stop trying to control me!"

"Then stop being a weak-assed little teenager!" I snapped at him.

 _Why am I trying to pick a fight with him?_ I thought to myself, yet it seemed like the words were slowly disappearing and and wandering off inside my head – as if I wasn't able to even comprehend simple sentences like that anymore … What was happening to me?

"Levi, you're scaring me," Eren mumbled, now stumbling backwards, away from me. I stared at him, annoyed by his movements.

"You little shit," I mumbled, squishing my eyes a bit together, trying to focus.

 _What was happening? Why was I so angry again?_ I could feel my fingertips starting to get tinglish, and my grib tightened around the rack beside me. Eren swallowed loudly, and before I knew of it, he had turned around and run out of the room.

"No, wait!" I suddenly yelled, surprised that he had left so suddenly. I could feel my heart beating stronger when watching him disappear, and not knowing exactly why, I just felt like I had just missed out on something important.

Not even thinking another second about it, I threw my body forward and out the door, leaving a confused Oluo behind, so that I could run after Eren.

"Eren!" I cried after him, the only thought going through my head was that I needed to stop him and apologise. Clinging to the rack, I forced my legs to keep going, as I could still see Eren in front of me.

The sudden activity rushing through my body had taken a rough toll on it, though. After only running merely 100 metres, my body was threatening to give up. My breath that had been deep and even before, was now completely turned into a wheezing and whining sound that only greatened the violent trembling of my own body.

"Eren, stop!"

The sound of my breathing became shallow and rapid as I started to lose my own vision, the corner of my eyesight getting more blurry for every second. My lips trembled every time I tried to take a breath, and when I soon realised that I was struggling too much for my own good.

As my body seemed to deny cooperating with me anymore, I collapsed onto the floor, my body finally giving up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let's explain!  
> Pixis pressed a button before leaving Levi's room. That button was the one that sends a shit ton of meds into the patient's body, if the patient is feeling a lot of pain - so basically Levi was full of drugs when he was talking with Eren, and that was why he was acting so strange.
> 
> Another note: This way, he was thereby able to show Eren that he still thought possesively of him, and that even though Levi doesn't yet realise that he still loves Eren, he does now realise that he isn't ready to see Eren with other people.


	19. Yellow Rose

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I'm back with another chapter! Are you excited? WELL, YOU SHOULD BE! Now hurry up and start reading, lovely ~

"Ah!" The rack beside me had fallen as well, letting out a loud, metallic sound as it hit the floor only seconds after I had fallen as well.

I could hear the sound of footsteps stopping, and after a moment of silence, a voice cut through it.

" … Levi?"

I coughed as I pressed a palm against the cold floor, trying to pull myself up into a sitting positions – I failed miserably of course, falling back onto my stomach, all air leaving my lungs again.

"F-Fuck," I stammered, when I felt the dizziness rejoin with my body.

And suddenly someone was at my side, warm hand on my back.

"Levi," Eren whispered under his breath, and before I knew it, strong arms embraced my body, lifting me from the ground.

"Fuck, the rack … " I could hear him mumble, but his voice was suddenly so far away. It was like I was suddenly falling into a deep sleep, even though I was fighting so hard to keep myself awake.

I wanted to say his name, to wrap my arms around his neck, but it was as if I had no strength left in me. Instead my head just leaned against his chest, my nosetip poking at his collarbone. He smelled so nice, almost like the smell of the ocean. It was a familiar smell, something that I had once gotten used to in the past, but now it suddenly seemed like such a long time ago. Being in his arms like this was comfortable, and just before my mind would drift off for good, I had a last thought come to me.

_I wish I could stay like this forever._

\- - - - -

There was a ringing sound in my ears that just wouldn't go away, no matter how long I waited. I couldn't quite feel my body yet, as if it was refusing to communicate properly with my brain, which did nothing to help with holding my temper down. As I got more and more restless and frustrated, I finally woke up from the dreamless sleep that I had been forced into. I wasn't tired, not really, yet my whole body felt drowsy and weak.

Where had all my strength gone to?

To my happiness, at least my eyes still worked as I wanted them to, and I quickly opened them to get a look around me. I was in my bed again, hooked up to all the machines and the IV fluid again, with a thin blanket over me that did nothing to keep the cold away and only reminded me how little fat I had on my body to protect it from situations like these.

Another person was inside the room with me as well, and of course I couldn't help but to get my hopes up.

"Eren?" I called out, blinking a couple of times to remove the blind spots from my vision, so that everything would become a little clearer.

"No, I'm Freya, your nurse," A feminine voice answered quickly after, and I felt my heart drop in my chest.

"Oh," I answered, placing my palms into the bed to force myself up in a sitting position.

"No no no no no," Freya said, placing a hand on my chest and pushing me down just as I had gotten up. I clenched my jaw in annoyance, looking up at the woman who was now standing much closer. She was a tall, brown-haired lady, with small glasses just sitting on the tip of her nose, and I found myself wondering how they could keep themselves from falling down.

"Hanji?!" I exclaimed, when I had blinked for the last time, finally getting my full vision back. Hanji was standing in front of me, wearing a white nurse uniform, even with a little hat. There was red stripes on the end of the skirt, and she even wore a name tag on her chest that said 'Freya'. What the hell was going on?

"Who is that? Your friend?" She asked, sending me a big smile, before handing me a remote. "You just have to push this button, " – she pointed to a little, red button – "to lift the end of the bed higher, so that you can sit up, okay?"

I raised an eyebrow, slowly taking the remote from her hand.

"What the hell do you think you're doing here, Hanji? Why aren't you back at the law firm?"

Instead of anwering, she just walked over to the night stand, grabbing the flowers that were in the vase, and throwing them into the nearest trash can. I pushed the button on the remote so that the bed started to move, letting me get a better overview over the room, and whatever she was doing.

"Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding," She said when she turned around again, holding a single yellow rose in her hands.

"Why are you talking like that?" I asked confused, observing her with more reservation than before. There was something wrong with this scenario, I knew that much, because there was no way that Hanji was actually a nurse. She had spent all her life working as a lawyer, so there had been no time or interesting in taking an education that would allow her to become a nurse. Was she trying to fuck around with me, making some kind of joke? Was that why she was acting so strange?

Again she didn't answer me, she just reached out the hand that was holding the rose, indicating that I was supposed to take it. I looked at her in a rather bewildered silence as I grabbed it slowly, holding it in my hand for a second, trying to see what was so special about it.

"Why did you give me this?" I asked after a moment of silence, but when I looked up again to where she had been standing before, she was suddenly gone.

"Is Eren your lover?"

I turned my head to see that she was now standing at the door, holding it open with her shoulder and foot. I furrowed my brows, not understanding what was going on.

" _Was_ my lover," I corrected her, trying to keep a calm and collected face. She just laughed at this, long enough to get me annoyed again.

"Your love isn't supposed to falter," She answered, shaking her head, and now her laugh and changed into a sad, little smile.

"And what is that supposed to mean?" I demanded to know, clutching the remote tightly in my hand, as I watched her slowly taking a step back.

"I believe it means that the word happiness would lose its meaning if it were not balanced by sadness," She said, before reaching out and unlocking the thing that were keeping the sliding door in place. It slowly started closing, and I could see how she slowly started to disappear. My heart started to beat faster, as if I could almost feel the opportunity slipping through my fingers.

"That makes no sense!" I screamed after her, not even affected by the fact that the desperation was so clear in my voice. "What does that mean? TELL ME WHAT IT MEANS!"

The door finally closed completely, separating us both from eachother, and my heart dropped in my chest when I heard the door lock itself with a _click_.

\- - - - - -

 

Mumbling voices, scratching sounds, a ringing noise in my ears.

…

"Levi?"

…

Frustration. Annoyance.

"L-Levi? … Hey?"

…

Sweating. Cold. Hot.

" … I think he's awake,"

"Really? Levi! Open your eyes,"

"Nghhh,"

"Give him a little space,"

I tried moving, and to my surprise it was easier than last time. All my limbs seemed to be communicating with my brain I discovered, and so I opened my eyes once more. This times there was two people in the room, the one being Eren and the other being a nurse. She was tall and had brown hair as well, but she didn't resemble Hanji the least bit. There was no indication that they were the same person, which made me sigh in relief. It had just been a dream, thank god.

A weird dream, but a dream nonetheless.

"This isn't a dream, right?" I ended up asking anyway, just to be sure. Eren snickered as a response, holding a hand up in front of his mouth to muffle the sound.

"N-No," He answered, clearly having a hard time to cover up his amusement. I crinkled my noise by this, not amused at all.

"Good" I said, and after looking around once more, I pressed my palms against the madras to push myself upwards. I was immediately met with a hand on my chest, and to my astonishment it wasn't the nurse's; it was Eren's.

"What?" I grunted, annoyed when I noticed that he was stronger than me.

"You're not supposed to move. There's a remote for your bed to let you get into a sitting position," He said, and I felt my elbows give up under me, as I felt down in the bed again.

"Then hurry the fuck up and give it to me," I groaned, tapping my fingers against the rail that was at both sides of my bed, keeping me in.

Hmm? That hadn't been there the last time. Did they put them up to keep me in bed? How embarassing.

"Oi, nurse!" I exclaimed after Eren had left, and I could see how I had startled the poor woman. She turned around, running over to me with large eyes.

"Y-Yes?"

"Why the hell am I locked in by these? I'm not a damn baby in a crib, or perhaps you've seen me shitting in a diaper earlier?"

The nurse shook her head rapidly, before scratching her nose.

"Ehh …. They're for your own safety, mr. Levi. So you won't run off again,"

"What? Are you fucking – "

"Leave her alone, Levi." Eren suddenly said, giving my hand a nudge. He had returned again with the remote in his hand, though right now he had crossed his arms over his chest, looking at me with a judgemental look. "She's just doing what she's been told. It was this or handcuffs,"

"Handcuffs? Oh please, I'm no threat," I said, rolling my eyes. "There's no need to be dramatic,"

Eren nodded to the nurse as a sign for her to leave, and she didn't have to be told twice. She got out quickly, closing the door behind her.

"I want an explanation. What the hell is going on, since I deserve this treatment?" I asked, reaching out to demand the remote. He uncrossed his arms, yet he was reluctant with giving me it.  
"You don't remember?" He said hesistantly, his eyes getting wider with astonishment.  
"Remember what?" I shrugged, raising an eyebrow. I really had no idea what he was talking about. The last I remembered was Pixis going out of my room. I must have blacked out after that, since I was just waking up now.

"Eh … You came into Oluo's room and starting yelling at me. When I got out of the room, you started chasing me, and then you collapsed on the floor. You really scared me for a second there, you didn't seem like yourself at all,"

I had somehow stopped breathing as he explained, and it when only when he had finished that I was able to take a breath again.

"What?! Are you serious?"

Is he trying to fuck around with me? I don't get it, even if it is true what he is saying, how come I have no memory of that at all?

Eren squinted his eyes while staring at me, and I quickly got very aware of my thoughts. I was already getting a sense that he only looked so focused when reading minds … Was he reading mine now?

"Yeah, I'm serious," He nodded at last, followed by a low sigh. "Levi, what do you remember doing last?"

It didn't take long for me to remember.

"I was talking with Pixis … He was saying something about throwing me off the mission, and I got really pissed. Then he went on to tell me about my wounds, and then he walked out … " I paused, imagining the scene in front of me again. No, something was missing. He had done something before that, something had been touched … "Ah! He pushed a yellow button on one of the machines," I said, pointing behind me where they were all neatly stacked up. Eren went over to look at them, and the only sounds were our heavy breathing as I waited.

"Oh … " I could hear him say, and I turned my upper body to look at him. It was an uncomfortable position to be in, so while he had his back turned anyway, I pushed myself up to sit on my knees.

"What is it?" I asked, placing a hand on the rail to be able to lean over it, so I could get a closer look. In that second Eren had turned around, and we where now facing eachother rather close.

"Eh … It's the button you push when you need more meds. He basically drugged you," He said, scratching his cheek to try and cover up the pink blush that had appeared. He quickly took a step back to greaten the distance between us, and I sat down on my ass again.

"So that's why I don't remember," I plainly stated, not knowing what else to say. Eren nodded while walking over to the end of my bed.

"Well, uh … If there isn't anything else," He mumbled, clearly a bit nervous. "Then I guess I'll get going … "

Already? No, I didn't want that. I wanted him here, with me – I didn't know why exactly, but I knew that if I didn't say anything soon, he would be leaving, and then it would be too late.

"Wait!" I said, and he stopped mid-way in turning around. He looked back at me, his eyebrows furrowing in confusion.

"What?"

"Um, well … Why didn't you come to visit me?"

"Huh?" Eren seemed genuinely taken aback by this, lost for words. "Well, uh … I don't really see the reason why I should," He mumbled, scratching his neck while biting his bottom lip. I had forgotten how cute he looked when he did that, and seeing it again after such a long time made my heart skip a beat. He really was just a young brat.

"Well then, why did you come to visit Oluo?" I asked innocently, pulling my legs up so that I could wrap my arms around them and rest my chin on my kneecap. He stared at me for a moment, too distracted by my actions to remember that he was actually supposed to answer me.

"Uh, well, um … " He mumbled, resting a hand on the end of my bed. When he became aware of it, he sat down slowly on the end. There was a lot of space since my legs weren't stretched out anymore, so there was no fear of us accidentally touching. "I wanted to see that he was okay. He talked to me before you guys went out … I guess,"

I didn't know if I should believe that. I didn't want to get my hopes up and think that he had gone to Oluo to ask if I was okay, just because his pride had stopped him from going directly to me.

Was that too much to hope for?

"Oh. Okay," I ended up saying when I realised that I had taken too long time to come up with an answer. We sat there for a moment, just staring at eachother, and I reminded myself to remember everything about him. There was no telling when I would be able to see him again, and I wanted to be able to imagine him in my head.

What, why did I want that?

I chewed on my lip, as I tried to make my intentions clear. What was it that I wanted from Eren, really? At first, I didn't even want him involved with the mission. I didn't even want him in my life. But even if it had been accident or destiny, we had ended up together again, after three months of separation. He had been acting like an annoying little brat, but he had matured as well, I had sensed that. There was something about him that had changed, and it was something unfamiliar, something that I couldn't quite set my finger on.

Now I really wasn't sure what to do. So when I didn't say anything else, Eren got off the bed and over to the door.

"Bye Levi," He said, opening the door, and taking a step out.

A step in the wrong direction.

"Wait, Eren!" The words just flew out of my mouth, as if I had no control over them. But to my relief I saw how his hand grabbed the closing door, forcing it up just enough so that he could stick his head in.

"Come again tomorrow," I said, and even though it sounded more like an order than a request, he still nodded.

And then the door closed again, and he was gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so I'm REALLY excited to hear your thoughts on Levi's dream. What do you think it means? What's with the yellow rose? What's up with Hanji's weird and mysterious phrases? Why does she say that her name is Freya? Please tell me what you think, because all those little hints are actually quite important.
> 
> Ah, next chapter will be another dream ... aaaaaand MORE AWKWARDNESS BECAUSE WHO DOESN'T LOVE AWKWARD SITUATIONS
> 
> In the end, I just want to say that I'm so sorry for the long wait for this chapter. I've been really down because a lot of really bad stuff have happened, so I've been too sad to write anything, but hopefully that'll soon blow over. If any of you are reading my other fic called 'The Jealousy' then this is the same reason that I haven't updated that as well. It WILL be up sometime this week though, there are just some really important things in the story that I have to settle on, before being able to move along with the actual story.


	20. Wrong Answer

A flickering of lights. A dripping sound from the bathroom where the nurse forgot to close the door to. Not a single person in sight.

It was rather boring being a patient in this particular hospital, yet I had to endure it for several more days. I needed to get out of here, and back to my job. Not keep lying in this bed, staring at the white walls. Sure, there was a little TV in the corner of the room, but the remote was too far away and I wasn't really feeling up to watching some cheap ass soap opera anyway. Instead I surrounded myself with the silence, closing my eyes in the hope of sleeping so that time would go faster.

It didn't really help. I wasn't tired the least … Yet I kept opening and closing my eyes, in the hopes of slipping into an unconcious state of mind. When would I fall asleep next? Ten minutes? An hour? Two?

"Levi! Levi, did you turn on the – "

The door was forced open with great strength, revealing a Eren as a panting mess, clearly out of breath.

"Did it start yet? Did I miss the opening? Did you – Wah!" He ran into the room, letting the door stand open, just to turn around and looking at the turned off TV. "You didn't even turn it on!"

I looked at him in confusion, fumbling with the remote to the bed that would make it move. A low buzzing sound was heard as it started working, letting me get into an almost sitting position.

"What are you talking about?" I asked, looking at him with astonished eyes, as he started to open the drawers at my night stand.

"Oi!" I said, trying to snap him out of it. He reacted, looking up at me and then he did the most outrageous thing … He smiled.

I hadn't seen that smile in almost 4 months now, it being so long ago that I had almost forgotten how it was. When Eren smiled at you like that, you couldn't help but feel special … As if you were only one that he dared smile to, as if it was a secret thing between the two of you. My heart almost jumped out of place in nostalgia, and I grabbed the fabric of my shirt in front of my chest, as if it would make it stop beating so fast.

"I'm sorry, I'm just so excited! It's the finale after all, and I just … Oh! Here it is!" He grabbed the TV remote and turned around to turn the TV on. The screen was white for a second or two, before turning into small people walking around on the screen while the music boamed from its speakers.

"Is it too loud?" He asked, suddenly looking back at me. He was doing everything so fast that I almost couldn't keep up – the medicine probably had an effect on my reaction system as well, though – so I just stared at him, not knowing what to say.

What was he even doing in my room?

Oh, yeah, I had asked him to come back today and visit … But why was he acting this way? It didn't seem normal at all for him to have such an attitude towards me like this … Perhaps something was wrong?

"Make room, fatty," He suddenly said, grinning at me as he threw a leg over the rail in an attempt to climb over.  
"Oi, what the hell do you think you're doing?" I asked in complete surprise, moving away to the other side automatically to get some distance between us.

"What, you want me to say pretty please first? And you say that I'm the brat," He grinned as he got the other leg over it and was now sitting in my bed. I just furrowed my brows, unable to speak.  
"Why are you looking at me like that?" He asked confused, tilting his head to the side to look at me with his big, beautiful eyes. I squinted mine in response, but as I opened my mouth to answer him he had already interrupted me again with "Brrr, it's cold! I want some of the blanket too!"

And just like that he crawled under my blankets and had wrapped his arms around me, his head resting on my chest.

"Lay down, or you'll miss the opening! It's the best part," He scolded me with a nudge, and even though my whole body had frozen up as soon as he had touched me, I still somehow managed to lean back. There was no way that I could look at the TV though – My eyes kept lingering on Erens head, as he was deeply engaged with the soap opera that was playing on the screen, totally unaware of anything else.

How had this happened? Surely it had to be a dream. There wasn't really any way possible that this could be happening in real life … This was the way that we had been acting in our previous relationship, this _wasn't_ something that we would ever do now.

So … Why was this happening? And more importantly … How come I was feeling okay with this? Well, my body still couldn't relax at all, but I was strangely enough thinking that I didn't want Eren to let me go now. Was I really fine with this?

"Hey … What's wrong? You feel so tense," Eren noticed, turning his head back so that he was able to look at me. "Relax already," He slapped my stomach gently to demonstrate that I needed to relax my upper body, and I tried, I really did, there was just no way.

"Eh … I'm sorry," Was the only thing I could mutter, too distracted by Eren's eyes that had locked themselves with mine once again. Hearing my answer, his corners of his mouth suddenly turned upwards in a smirk.

"Hmm? Need some help?"

He unwrapped his arms from my waist so that he could push his body upwards so that his face could reach mine. Without another word he grabbed my neck, gently pushing my forward as he leaned down and pressed his lips against mine. The feeling was familiar, and so was to taste. As our lips locked together in passionate movements, I started to feel my whole body melt away, loosing control of my limbs. The only thing I could focus on was Eren's eyes that was only half-closed, and the small moans that he made that made his lips buzz lightly against mine.

After a moment – that I deemed way too short – he pulled away, his breath a little uneven. His lips instantly turned into a grin as he looked at me. I had a hazy look, my lips separated into forming a small 'o', and my breath heavy.

"Are you comfortable now?"

This wasn't something that I had asked for. Though now that it had happened, I couldn't seem to stop myself from wanting more.

"Hmm … Not yet. I think I need a little more," I said, trying to sound as cool and calm as I could, though Eren could easily see right through that.

"Nooo, we'll just miss the show then!"

He placed himself in his original position, wrapping his arms around me with his head on my chest before I could protest, and suddenly I was forced to watch a superficial soap opera with my previous lover lying at my side.

This surely had to be a dream. But even if it was … I could still enjoy it, right?

After fourty minutes of riddiculous drama it was finally over, and I grabbed the remote to turn it off before Eren could say that he wanted to watch anything else.

We stayed like that for another couple of minutes, just being with each other in silence, before something else would interrupt our peace. I had my hand tangled up in Eren's messy brown hair, giving him a head massage which he purred in satisfaction to, when two people appeared outside on the hall. They didn't seem to notice that we could see and hear them, and we could have easily ignored them if it wasn't for Eren.

"Oh my god," He suddenly giggled, lifting his head from my chest to look at me. "They're having an affair!"

"What are you talking about?" I asked in confusion, furrowing my eyebrows as I looked at him.

"Well, the girl is thinking about the sex they had last night, and the guy is thinking that he's afraid that his wife will show up today," He quickly explained, pointing at the two doctors that was casually talking at the reception stand, perfectly standing so that we had visibility.

"Are you serious? How scandalous," I couldn't help but laugh at that. "It's like soap opera in real life!"

"That's so true! I wonder how it will end," He muttered, still chuckling lightly. "Shit, I would be pretty pissed if I found out that you had a wife … Or that you were having an affair with someone else,"

I rolled my eyes, laughing as well. "Oh please, as if I would. There's no way,"

"Are you sure about that?" He had suddenly moved so that he was now sitting on top of my, grabbing my wrists and holding them down to be sure that I wouldn't move. "Maybe I should read your thoughts just to be sure,"

The blood was drained from my face as he said that, and I realised that we had just been joking about his ability. It had been so casually, it even seemed like it was a part of our everyday life. Like it was _normal_ for me to know about it and even _be okay with it._

"Don't," I quickly said, not sure how to react otherwise.

"Oh please, as if I would. I believe you … But," He smirked at me, even as much as to wink at me. "Maybe I should mark you as mine, just to make sure that everyone knows whose you are,"

I bit my lip, not really able to _not_ get aroused when he spoke like that.

"Hey, isn't that my line?" I asked, trying to cover up that my voice had trembled.

"Oh, come on! You're in a hospital, aren't I allowed to see this as an opportunity to get a little control?" He asked, pushing out his bottom lip as he pouted, his eyes getting wider. I sighed, trying to hold in a laugh.

"Stop looking at me like that!"

"Hmpf, fine then!" He snorted, clearly faking it, since he then started to lower his head. His lips crashed with the skin on my neck as he started kissing it softly. I got goosebumps on my arms as he continued, slightly sticking out his tongue to lick the places he had kissed.

"Mmmhh," He purred against my skin before opening his mouth wider to place a part of my flesh between his teeth and –  
"Ow!" I protested, but since he was still holding my hands, my movements was limited.

"Sorry," He said, though I could he him chuckle lightly under his breath before kissing the place that he had bitten.

"Who's the sadist now?" I grinned as he raised his head again to send me a smile.

"Idiot," He just answered, before giving me a quick kiss on the lips.

"Brat,"

He released my wrists so that he could wrap his arms around my neck instead, pulling me into a warm embrace. Surprised, but glad, I placed my arms around him as well to return it. I could feel his warm breath on the back of my neck as I leaned down to rest my chin on his shoulder.

"You're so warm," I mumbled as he pressed his cheek against my neck.

"Mmmh," He hummed in agreement, not really bothering to say anymore. I closed my eyes, feeling rather happy by the fact that I was holding Eren in my arms once again.

It had been way too long.

\- - - - -

"Levi?"

" … "

"Hey, are you awake?"

"Ngghh,"

"For fucks sake,"

When I opened my eyes again, my bed only contained myself, and my arms were empty. In front of me, at the of of my bed though, Eren was standing, resting his hands on the rail. It felt like so far away, but that was probably just because I was too short to fill out the whole bed.

"Eren?" I mumbled as I rubbed my eyes with both hands, trying to get to sleep out of the corners of my eyes.

"Yeah? You said that you wanted me to come. So here I am,"

He seemed rather impatient and annoyed, as if he had other plans. Or maybe it was just because he didn't want to be here.

"That's … Good. Thanks for coming," I said sleepishly, still tired. How long had I been out for? My whole body ached as I reached for the remote that would move my bed, only to realise that I was already in a sitting position. My hand fell flat down onto the madras, and with that I wasn't really sure what to do next. I looked over at Eren again who had been staring at me this whole time with an unreadable expression.

"So … Did you want to talk about something?" He asked in a milder tone as he walked around the bed and over to the chair. He pulled it up to the side of the bed and sat down so that he was the same height as me.

"Well … " I wasn't really sure what I was going to say. I couldn't even remember if there was something in particular that I had had in mind when asking him to come today, but since I had that dream, I suddenly had a lot of new thoughts floating around in my mind. Mostly about the fact that I missed him. But how the hell was I going to say that?

"Yeah?"

I guess this was a now or never moment. So I ended up taking the opportunity.

"I wanted to say that … I'm sorry,"

This seemed to taken him aback, as his jaw dropped and his eyes widened. I rolled my eyes at his dramatic reaction, though I could understand it.

"I'm sorry that I was so cruel to you. I'm sorry that I punished you for something that wasn't even your fault. I'm sorry for hating you for having something that you didn't even choose yourself. I'm sorry that I made you cry. I'm sorry that it ended the way it did. I'm sorry that I fucked up. But most of all, I'm so sorry that it has taken me this long to actually say it. And what I'm most sorry for? That I didn't fix it right after. That I didn't contact you afterwards to try and make things right – "

"Why are you telling me this?" He interrupted me before I could get any further. I took a deep breath, as I tried to find the right words to answer him.

"Because I regret losing you. Because … Because I miss you, Eren. I was struggling for a long time trying to forgive you, but for all that time … I never stopped loving you. Not really,"

Eren gulped, but didn't say anything else that could interrupt me. So I just kept on going – I was already so far out, that I could just get everything out on the table. Even though this was scary, opening myself up to him after all this time, something that I had never done before, I still felt that it was necessary.

He needed to know.

"I also realise something else. I realise that our relationship wasn't just sex and physical attraction. It might have started out that way, but … It developed. I really did care about you, because … You made me happy. You made me smile, everything about you made me want to smile. Your smell, your attitude towards everything, your ability to be so carefree and happy," As I kept on talking, I just realised all the things only seconds before they came out of my mouth. None of this was planned, but now that I had opened the gate, there was no way of closing it before I had let it all out.

"So … I forgive you." I took a deep breath. "Because … We are both human and we both make mistakes and bad choices. I could continue to be spiteful towards you but that wouldn't really accomplish anything. So I forgive you and accept you for who you are,"

I bit my lip, waiting to see Eren's reaction to my long rant. He was chewing his lip as well, staring at something below my face – my collarbone maybe? - and looking like he was thinking rather hard.

"Levi … " He started out saying, and even though I had been interested in hearing what he had to say before, now I wasn't so sure that I actually wanted to hear it. His tone of voice had scared me as it sounded so despairing.

"No, Eren, please." I interrupted, leaning forward to look him closer in the eyes. We got eyecontact, and I locked it in place, making sure that he couldn't look away. "Eren, I miss you. My life feels …Empty without you. I want to come home to you, to hold you in my arms again, to kiss you … I love you, Eren. Please just … Can't you give me another chance?"

This time it didn't take him too long to respond.

He sent me an apologetic smile and the words followed soon after that. Those words that would cause tears to fall from the corners of my eyes the next time that I would be alone.

"No. I can't. I don't love you anymore, Levi."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Brutal, huh?
> 
> I dunno if any of you have Instagram, but I've been wondering for some time now if I should get one .. You now, an account that would let me update sneak peeks for you of my chapters before I upload. I don't know, if any of you would be interest in following me if I did that?  
> Anyways, I kinda already did it. I'm new to the whole social media thing so I'm not really good at it, but I really hope that you think this is a good idea!  
> My account name is : ererilove  
> Yeah, it's super original, right? Anyways, I just wanted to be able to communicate with you guys another way than just here on AO3 so I thought that Instagram would be a great way to start off. (I'm still not even sure how to do the whole tumblr thing ... Haha, I suck, i know) so if you wanna chat or get sneak peeks of this fanfic or see cute pics of Eren and Levi together, you should find me on there!


	21. Brown-haired Beauty in Bed

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just wanted to write Levi drunk. Enjoy!

Only a day after, and I was released from the hospital. Ít was in the middle of the weekend when I came back to the apartment, so I pretty much decided to lock myself up and drink lots of alchohol. I told myself ' _Hey, I should just swim in my own self pity for now, and then pull myself together on monday'_ , so that kinda just became the plan. 

Well, the original plan … Horribly enough, that wasn't really how it all went down. 

It was a normal saturday evening when I had brought up the liquor from the cabinet under the sink. I didn't really see the point in starting off with anything light, since the mission was to _just get drunk_ , so there was no beer or anything to mix it with. It just couldn't get any more simple. 

I ended up deciding that red wine was the best to go with, so I popped open the cheapest bottle and poured it into the glass. I was alone in my so-called home, and since I wasn't a sucker for television – unless I was snuggling up against Eren – I decided to pull a chair over to the large window and stare at the view while filling my empty stomach with the red substance. I was to be considered a lightweight because of the small amount of fat on my body, so it wasn't really hard to get wasted. Already after about 2-3 glasses I was slouching over the armchair, feeling groggy and seeing black dots. 

“Oi!” I yelled out as I turned around, completely sure that I had heard a sound. “Come in!”

I pressed my lips against each other as I waited for the door to open, but it never did. Hadn't there been a sound? No? 

Then … Why not? Why wasn't anybody trying to get in? Why wasn't Eren trying to get in? 

I needed someone to get in. My body was getting tense as I remembered how much I missed actual physical contact with another person. Preferably Eren, of course. 

“Ereeeeeen,” I dragged out his name in a despairing voice, crying out for the one person that I wanted to see. And the last person that would actually come.

No, that wasn't right. That couldn't be true. He just needed a little … Motivation … Right? 

Yep, that definitely sounded like a good idea. I would give him a gentle push in the right direction. Surely he would come, if I said that I wanted to see him … He always came before … Why wouldn't he come now?

My muddled brain couldn't comprehend the fact that Eren didn't love me anymore. I denied it and refused to think about it. There was no way that I could actually accept the fact that I had been rejected, when I had _just_ realised that I wanted him back. 

“Fuck,” I groaned as I tried pulling my phone out of my tight pants. It feel it the floor, and as drunk as I was, I didn't think twice about diving headfirst onto the floor to follow the poor thing.  
“Ngghhhh,” I grunted as I tried blinking to remove several of the black dots from my vision that had occurred, before giving up. I squinted my eyes as I tried remembering the code that would unlock the phone. If it wasn't because I had been _very_ lucky to press the right buttons, I would probably have been struggling with it for several minutes.

I went to my contact list, and I didn't have to scroll down for long, before getting to Erens name that was right in between Hanji's and Erwin's names. Squinting my eyes even more so that I was able to press the right name, I quickly pressed it up against my ear, waiting for it to be picked up on the other end.

_Click._

“Ereeeeen,” I whined into the phone, placing my forehead against the cold floor and closing my eyes. “Why don't you wooooove meeeee?” I made a loud groaning sound before continuing, not even giving him a chance to answer. “Pwease come over, we need tho thalk … Eren, pwease,”

“Eh … Levi, are you drunk?”

“No!” I quickly retorted, not even noticing that something sounded odd. 

“Alright, I'm coming over. Your door better not be locked,”

I had opened my mouth to answer, but the phonecall had already been ended, and I was left alone again.

Well, not for very long. 

HE WAS COMING!

I grabbed the chair as I forced myself up into a somehow standing position – even though my knees were shaking pretty badly – and tried to hold myself steady. He was coming and I was going to convince him to take me back, and he would accept, and we would have great make up sex in the bedroom.

That was the new plan. And what a glorious plan that was, indeed. 

I just had to wait a little bit … How long did it take for him to drive over here? Could … Could he even drive yet? I didn't remember. I raised my hands to start counting on my fingers to help the process of figuring out how many minutes it would take him to arrive.

1 … 2 … 7 … 8 … Oh fuck, I ran out of fingers. 

I walked over to the door, sitting down 3 metres away from it in a crossed-legged position, and then crossing my arms as well. My eyes were staring the door down as if I was having a blinking contest with it, and I fought with all my might to keep my eyes open as … as I … kept on … waiting … Eren ...

\- - - - -

The hangover rushed over me as soon as I woke up, not even giving me a decent chance. I groaned in horror over the fact that I had actually been so stupid as to get wasted and be a crybaby. Since when did I do that? When had it been acceptable for me to sink to that level?

As I removed the sleep from my eyes, I was reminded of the answer. 

Because of Eren, of course. 

I was lying in bed and he lying right by my side, having his back turned to me so that I could only spot the top of his head. Even though the rest of his body was covered by the duvet, I could still see how he was breathing soundly, probably still asleep.

Why was he here? I didn't remember him coming into my home … I didn't even know the reason why he was here. Placing the palm of my hand on my temple, trying to remember what the hell had happened last night. I had been fumbling with my phone … Calling … Eren? And then waiting for him to arrive, I had fallen asleep, the alcohol finally overpowering my consciousness. 

But he had come to me, and that was all that mattered. Did that mean that he still cared about me in some way?

I could feel all my hopes bubble up in my stomach, leaving me feeling ready to tackle whatever obstacle that would be in my way to get to him. Even the fact that he was still here, instead of just going home right away again … He took care of me. I still held some kind of value to him.

I reached out to slide my fingers through his hair, when I noticed something rather … Odd. When had his hair grown this much? It wasn't possible … Who the _fuck_ … 

“You deepshit! You disgrace!” My foot kicked out, and then a loud badump was heard on the floor, followed by an even louder groan. 

“What was that for, Hotshot?” A woman voice called out in protest, and soon after I could see two arms reach up and grab a hold of the madras, pulling the rest of the upper body up. The reflection of the glasses went right into my eyes, making me squint and grunt in annoyance.

“Piece of shit, tch!” I just answered, making a grimace. 

“That's not really the way to talk to the person who helped you, now is it?”

I threw a fluffy, white pillow after her, which hit her in the face. The lack of force did nothing to her, and she just ended up chuckling loudly. 

“Hotshot, stop being so immature. You should be thanking me, seriously?”

“Why the fuck are you in my bed, Shitty Glasses?”

“Because you called me, duuuh!” She clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth, making a rather annoying sound. I lifted my head to look her in the eyes with the meanest gaze I could possibly create. To my annoyance, she didn't even flinch. It had probably something to do with my morning hair and sleepy eyes.

“I. Did. Not. Fucking. Call. You.” I spat out slowly, raising an eyebrow at her. She did the exact same face expression, probably in an attempt to mock me. 

“Yes. You. Did.”

“Don't fucking mock me and tell me what the hell is going on,”

“Well, I'm guessing that you were probably trying to call Eren, because you were crying into the phone, telling me to love you, and to come over so that we could talk. You sounded really out of it, so I decided to come anyways so that you wouldn't do anything stupid. You were sleeping on the floor when I arrived,”

I facepalmed myself after hearing this, the embarassment flooding over me. Somehow, I was now glad that it had been Hanji I had called, because if I had called Eren, and started to say such embarassing stuff to him … It would be rather uncomfortable and awkward next time meeting him, to say the least. 

“So … Are we good?” Hanji asked hesistantly, as she slowly stood up, ready to dodge anything that I might throw after her. 

“Yeah, whatever.” I just grunted, removing the hand from me face with a loud sigh. Hanji looked at me with an intrigued expression, as she sat down beside me again. 

“So … What's up, buttercup?” 

I looked at her out of the corner of my eyes with a raised eyebrow, not bothering myself with turning my whole head to look properly at her.

“Well, you know … Since you got drunk, you know, alone. Tell Mama Hanji aaaaall about it,”

Great. I knew that once Hanji got interested in something, she wouldn't let it go before she knew everything. She could be a real pain in the ass when she wanted to, and I was still suffering from my hangover, clearly making me an unfit candidate for trying to resist her. 

“Well … “ I exhaled slowly, knowing that what I was about to say, would probably be a long rant. At least I knew that I could trust Hanji with this. She didn't call herself my best friend for nothing. And even though I had sworn never to give her the satisfaction of actually saying those words to her, I still thought the same.

“Well, after I started working at the police station, Eren started working there as well, and – “

“Wait, _what_? Why was Eren working there? Isn't he just a college student?”

“Um … “ I bit my lip, trying to come up with some sort of excuse. I didn't want to reveal his ability to Hanji, since I still felt like I owed him not to tell anybody. “That's … That's irrelevant to this story,”  
Hanji raised an eyebrow, but said no more, letting me continue on. 

“So we were working on the same case, and I got hurt. So I ended up in the hospital, and – “

“Wait a minute, _what_?! Why wasn't I noticed? Why didn't you call me? I'm your best friend!”

“Calm your tits, Shitty Glasses, I wasn't hurt _that much_. And I'm fine now, so it doesn't matter,”

“Hmf!” She crossed her arms, and I could hear her mumble something that I wasn't able to understand fully. 

“So, back to the story. I was in the hospital, and Eren was there as well. And I might have said to him that I wanted him back, and … He rejected me,” 

“Wait, _whaaaaaa_ \- “ Hanji's eyes widened as she stared at me in shock. “The great Levi Ackerman actually opened his heart up, and was shot down? Ooouuuuucchhhh!”

I sent her a death glare. 

“I _said_. Dont. Fucking. Mock. Me.”

“Me-fucking-mo-me,” She imitated me childishly, sticking out her tongue to let me now that I couldn't actually scare her. 

“Brat,” I rolled my heart, before sighing again, not having the energy to be too pissed at her. “Anyways, that's why I got drunk alone yesterday. I guess I just wanted to forget about him for a little while … “

“Well, You definitely failed miserably at that!” She said with a low giggle, muffled by the hand that she had covered her mouth with. “I'm sorry, I'm sorrry … I guess I would have done the same thing, if the person I loved didn't love me back anymore. That must suck,”

I nodded slowly, not feeling it necessary to use words to agree with her. 

Yes, it felt sucky as hell. 

“The worst part of it all, was that I didn't even know that I felt this way, before now … I was perfectly fine before, but then suddenly our lives got all mixed up again, and … And … “

“And you realised that it was a mistake breaking up with him?” She asked, tilting her head to look at me with a thoughtful look. Again, I nodded slowly. 

“I definitely missed him … I still don't know if I regret breaking up with him, but I definitely know that I still love him … And that sucks, because I understand now that while I was trying to supress all of my stupid feelings, he actually got through them, and got over me,”

“So he doesn't love you anymore? Are you sure about that?”

It took some time to think about it, but in the end I still nodded my head for the third time. Remembering how he had looked at me, how he had said those words … No, there was no chance that he had been lying. He had seemed so sure of him self, so confident in his own words. 

He really had gotten over me. 

“Yes, I'm sure. He doesn't love me anymore,”

“Well … Maybe, maybe not. But the truth is, that he has already had those kind of feelings for you before … So who says that you can't make those kind of feelings re-occur once more?”

Was she actually … Encouraging me? To fight for what I wanted?

I bit my lip, as I considered it. 

“So … You're saying that I should fight for him?”

“Hell yeah, you should fight! Don't give up just yet, Levi. I have a feeling that you'll succeed in the end!”

She sent me a wide smile that I couldn't help but to copy onto my own face – smaller though, but it was still there.

_Don't worry, Eren._

_Somehow … Somehow, I'll win your heart back._

_That's a promise._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sentence of the Day: " _Tell Mama Hanji aaaaaaaall about it._ "
> 
> Next chapter will be filled with awkward incidents between Levi and Eren - aren't you already getting excited? Cuz' I am! Haha
> 
> Instagram: Ererilove  
> Follow for sneak peeks of future chapters, and cute ereri pics that can ease our bleeding souls!


	22. Overprotective Blonds

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fluffy flashbacks. Fixing ties. Overprotective Armin. Solution-finder Eren.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can you guess believe that I almost forgot the details about this story? I seriously, no shit, had to go back in the story to make sure that I wasn't writing something wrong ... Haha, it's been way too long since I last worked on this story.
> 
> Well, for now you should just lean back and enjoy this chapter. It doesn't really contain anything revolutionary, mindfucking or anything crazy like that. See it like a pre-chapter to make you ready for the next chapter - because THAT'S where things get interesting. Haha. Did I get you in the mood for reading on?  
> Hahaha, sorry 'bout that
> 
> Enjoy, sweetlings!

"Your tie is crooked," He pointed out with small smile, lifting up af finger to point out the mistake that I had made.

"Tsk," I mumbled, mostly because I was so frustrated with myself and my inadequate attempts to do it properly. I knew how to do a proper tie, so how come I wasn't able to do it now?

"Oh my," Eren lowered his voice, making it sound more teasing. "Someone's nervous?" He came closer to look, standing only a meter away. I was standing in front of the large person-sized mirror, getting ready for a party that was being held at the firm. It was apparently mandatory, or so I had been told by Hanji – whom had named herself my date to the damn thing by the way. I basically had no choice, did I? So I had said yes, though much to my dismay – I would much rather stay at home with Eren, doing the dirty deeds that we had been at all day. I was torn between going, or calling Hanji to cancel.  
But then again, getting dressed up once in a while wasn't so bad, especially when you had been undressed all day.

Eren was standing behind me, still only in his underwear, watching me in the mirror, as he was just tall enough to see over the top of my head.

"I don't do nervous," I mumbled, my voice steady and cold as always, though my eyes flickered for a moment. "I can do it."

"Then prove it, old man." He said, challenging me. Who was he, and what had he done with Eren? We had only been dating for a few weeks, yet he kept surprising me with these little character treats.

I pulled the tie, undoing it entirely to start from scratch. My fingers worked fast, and it didn't take longer than a minute until it was done.

But of course, this time it wasn't completely right either.

Eren didn't say anything, but I could see him grinning, his smile widening from ear to ear.

"Don't taunt me like that!" I scoffed, turning around to nudge his shoulder. "And don't think for a second that you're better than me. Please, a brat like you? Hmpf!"

"Ow! No need to hit me, just because you're jealous of my skills!" He grinned, caressing his shoulder, where I had just hit him. "Let me try, at least. If I can't do it, then you have permission to mock me as much as you'd like. But if I can do it … "

I turned around, looking at him with an impatient look.  
"Then get on with it," I grunted, trying to sound like I didn't really care. I didn't want him getting even more bold with me. Him being so young was a callenge itself.

"Okay okay, give me a second," He grabbed the tie, undoing it completely, before starting to work on folding it correctly. I watched his face while he did it, no – a better word might be that I was studying him. He seemed so focused, with several furrows on his forehead and his jaw clenched. He was slower than me, taking his time in doing it right, and right it became.

"There!" He grinned, before letting go of me. I turned around to look at it in the mirror, and to my displeasure, it was perfect. Much better than my own.

"How are you so good at that? You're not even out of college yet!" Eren rolled his eyes at that comment, though he still wrapped his arms around me. I still wasn't used to all this affectionate feely-touchy stuff yet, but at least I didn't pull away. Instead I leaned back against his chest, resting the back of my head against his shoulder.

"My dad taught me. He liked to keep up appearances, so it was important for him that I knew to dress well. Plus, he was a very important man, so he was invited to a lot of parties. And sometimes I was even allowed to come with him,"

I wasn't really sure how to respond to that. He didn't have to open up to me, to tell me these things about him, yet he didn't seem to mind. I didn't mind either, though I felt a little awkward now, not knowing how to respond to that.

"I can't imagine you being all dressed up, in a suit," I ended up saying instead, tilting my head to get closer to his neck. "But I bet you'd look handsome,"

"Not as handsome as you, though." He said with a chuckle, looking into the mirror again to observe the sight that was standing right in front of him. I couldn't help but get a little flustered, so I quickly released myself from his arms so that I could turn around.

"Don't be a tease," I said, rolling my eyes at him. He just laughed at that, though.

"As I recall, you're tie is perfect now, soooo … You owe me,"

"You never said anything specific," I quickly retorted, trying to step aside, away from him. He grabbed my wrist though, pulling me close again.

"Then I guess I'll just have to make one up, won't I?" He said with a low voice, looking down at me with his eyes sparkling with something unknown. Well, not really unknown – It wasn't really hard to make out what it was that he wanted.

"Afterwards," I said with a stern look on my face. There was no way I was going to have sex after using so much time to get ready.

"Oh please! I wasn't thinking about that," Eren quickly said. "A simple kiss will suffice,"

And so I wrapped my arms around his neck and pressed my lips against his. It was soft and sweet, and for a moment I could let my mind be blank as the only think to focus on right now, was Eren's sweet, tasty lips against my own.

Until the doorbell rang, of course. Damn Hanji, and her talent for bad timing.

\- - - - - 

"Your tie is crooked," He pointed out, lifting up af finger to point out the mistake that I had made.

"Oh … I suppose so," I mumbled, raising a hand to cover the tie, as if it was embarrassing. Eren kept standing there for a moment, and I wondered if he was thinking about the same thing that I was. Did he remember all those times he had fixed my tie? It had all started with that one night where I had been nervous for no reason at all, and since then it had become a tradition for him to do it for me. Even though I had been perfectly capable of doing it myself. And he would earn himself a kiss for it every time.

Those kisses meant everything now. They stood clear in my mind, and odd enough, I was hoping that Eren would be reading my mind at this very moment. Wouldn't that mean that he would think about those kisses as well?

But I didn't have time to see if I had been right, because when I looked at him again, he had already started walking again, leaving me behind.

I couldn't help but to feel hurt over this. It had been a tradition between us, a sacred act … And now he had no problem walking away from it? Was I really the only one thinking about it? Did he even remember it now?

"Wait up," I called out, making him stop. He turned around, confusion standing clear in his face.

"What is it?" He asked in a polite manner, as if we were perfect strangers to each other.

"Come back here," I ordered, knowing that he would have no other choice than to do what I told him to. I was his superior after all, I was even the reason that he was hired. He went back, but this time he was closer than before.

"Do it for me," I said, pointing at the tie.

"Wh-What?" He stammered, suddenly looking a little pale. It was clear that he didn't feel comfortable doing it.

"Yeah … You should know better than anyone else that I'm not as good at ties as you are,"

His cheeks turned into a dark shade of red, but he still stepped closer with hesistant moves.

"I … Um," He didn't say anything after that, instead he focused on reaching for my tie to undo it. His hands were shaking, and it was pretty clear that he was nervous about being so close to me. So the question was just – was he nervous around me because he still felt something for me, or because he was intimidated by me?

And how should I play by this … what strategies would I use to get him back? There were several opportunities that I could use in my advance, I just weren't sure how to work them. I knew Eren, yes, but I also knew that Eren had changed. Which meant that I had no idea what would affect this new side of him. Before, he had been greatly influenced by physical attraction, but there was no way that it would work anymore. Besides, I didn't underestimate him just like that. Eren was smarter than I had once thought, and I wasn't going to look down him anymore.

Yeah, he had changed these past 3 months. But so had I.

"Relax, Eren. I'm not going to bite you," I said with a low chuckle, tilting my head to send him a little smile. It seemed to ease him a bit, though his hands were still shaking lightly.

"Sorry …" He apologized, his eyes flickering from the tie and to my eyes. "I don't know why I'm so … So … "

"Nervous?"

"Uh … Yeah," He lowered his eyes again, but I noticed the look in his eyes. He knew very well why he was nervous, he just wasn't going to tell me.

"You shouldn't be," I took a deep breath, before leaning slightly up against the table behind me. We were standing right in the middle of the office where everyone else was seated as well, and though I had been here for at least 6 hours, Eren had only just arrived. And it had been my plan all along to make me the first person to greet him. And with a crooked tie, no less. "I know that you're probably feeling embarassed to be around me after I confessed to you last week. I want to make it clear that you shouldn't be,"

"I shouldn't?" His fingers had stopped working, and now he was just looking at me, surprised by my words. He probably hadn't expected that I would adress the elephant in the room so quickly.

"No. It was a very unprofessional thing of me to do, confessing to you like that. We still work together, so I hope that I haven't scared you away completely,"

"You haven't!" He quickly exclaimed, a little louder than I had expected. My eyebrows flew up in surprise by his quick answer, and again he blushed.

"Oh, sorry. I just mean, that it's okay. I'm not going to quit working here, because of … That,"

"Well … I'm glad," I said, sending him a warm smile. I was actually even surprising myself, with all of this positive attitude of mine. Did he notice it as well, my strange behaviour? After all, it wasn't like me to be this nice.

Eren lowered his gaze once more, and his fingers started working on the tie once more, this time with a bit more confidence.

"So how far are we with the case?" He asked. Was he just trying to make small talk, or was he genuinely curious?

"Well, the woman that shot me – Annie – was captured, and was questioned the whole time that I was in the hospital. However, they couldn't get anything out of her, just like the case with the man Reiner. She seems to have a very strong sense of will, so for now she will be prosecuted the correct way, and then sent to prison. But before that happens, we need you to see her. This is why you were called in today,"

"She was the one who shot you?" Erens eyes grew wide, and his eyes flickered over to my arm were the bullet had went through.

"Yeah, two times in the chest and one in the upper arm. But it has mostly healed now, so no worries,"

Eren didn't say anything for a few moments, he just quickly finished the tie.

"I wasn't," He mumbled under his breath as he took as large step away from me. "There you go,"

"Thanks," I nodded, sending him another smile. What the hell was up with me today, being so warm and fluffy? It felt like I was really going all out here – of course that wasn't true, but to me it felt like a lot. "Now I don't look so bad,"

"You didn't look bad before,"

"Huh?" I tilted my head, pretending not to have heard it correctly. I wasn't sure if I had done it to tease him, or if I just wanted to hear him say that I looked good.

"You didn't look that bad before," Eren mumbled, suddenly aware of what I had made him say. His cheeks flustered once more, and he quickly looked away.

"Thanks. I'm glad you still think I'm goodlooking," I said, grinning silently. I had bent his words, cornered him to say something that maybe he didn't necessarily meant. But it was all worth it, when seeing his flustered face.

"I-I didn't say – "

"Jäeger! I need you over here, now!"Pixis interrupted him just in time, though distracting both of us. Both our necks snapped as we looked in his direction. He was standing in the doorway that led to the hall where the interrogation rooms were placed.

There was no doubt about it; Annie would be sitting in one of those rooms right this moment, awaiting her sentence. But Eren needed to get to her first, before she could go on.

I couldn't help but feel curious myself. This women had gotten the upper hand with me last time we had fought, yet now I was the one with the advantage.

"Let's go then," I said, giving Eren a small nudge on his shoulder to get him moving as well. He jumped a bit by surprise, clearly dealing with some nerves. "Are you ready?"

"As ready as I can be," He mumbled, following right behind me as I started to walk towards Pixis.

"Then let's do this,"

\- - - - -

"I don't like it, Eren."

I grabbed the tray, moving further along the line, placing several foodplates on the yellow plastic surface. I sighed when seeing how long the line in front of me was, filled with people my own age who were probably just as hungry and tired as I felt.

"What do you mean by that? It doesn't matter if you like it or not. That won't have any influence on my decisions," I asnwered, turning my head to look at Armin who were standing right behind me, holding a plastic tray of his own. He raised an eyebrow at me, but didn't say anything further.

For once, I thought I was off the hook, but that only lasted until we had gotten outside with our food, sitting on the grass with no other people around us.

"Eren, please hear me out." He started off again, putting down his fork and setting his tray aside. He turned his body, placed himself in a crossed-legged position, to look properly at me. I sighed, and knowing that Armin wouldn't let this go, I put down my tray as well.

"Armin, please don't give me a lecture. I know what I am getting myself into,"

"You clearly don't! You've already done enough for him, Eren. It's time you quit your job and got as far away as possible from him!"

"When did you become so overprotective?" I asked in astonishment, looking at Armin with a raised eyebrow.

"When you became too stupid to see that you're being manipulated with,"

"Hey, there's no need to be rude," I mumbled, though it didn't really bother me all that much. I've been called much worse anyway. However, it did seem to shut Armin up for a second, regretting what he had said.

"Eren, I'm sorry … It's just that … I worry about you. And after you told me what he said to you last week, I just … I don't want you to make the same mistakes all over again,"

"I already told him that I wasn't in love with him anymore!" I protested, angry that he had so little faith in me. "Nothing's gonna happen, I'll make sure of it!"

"Easy talk doesn't make up for easy actions, Eren. Just because you say something, doesn't mean that you can actually do it,"

"Are you seriously telling me that I won't be able to resist him, if I keep being around him?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying," Armin nodded, looking away only shortly before locking his gaze with mine again, his eyes more serious than before.

"I can't believe you. I'm serious when I say that I don't love him anymore. I've had three months to get over him, and I did. Armin, I'm over him. Don't worry about it,"

"I can't just stop worrying about it. You're important to me, Eren. I don't want to see you get hurt again,"

"Well then … " I rummaged around my mind, trying to find a solution that would ease Armin. "How about this? You'll come with me to work and see how we interact with each other. After that, you'll see that it's not as bad as you think it is!"

Armin looked like he considered it for a second.

"That sounds like an idea. Besides, I haven't even met him yet,"

"You won't like him," I said immediately, grinning by the thought. Armin would instantly feel intimidated and frightened, and Levi … Well, Levi was Levi.

And that was how it came to it that thursday after school, when both Armin and I headed for the police station.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my, Armin has been introduced! Quick note to the story: Eren is jumpy and nervous and flustered around Levi because Levi confessed to him and now he feels awkward around him and doesn't really know how he should act - he is still young and inexperienced after all.
> 
> So it's been, what? - over a month since I uploaded last chapter? Well, just wanted to adress that and tell you guys that it's not something that I had planned, and I'm sorry to have left you all waiting for so long. I've been going through a lot of depressing stuff, so I had to take a step back and take care of that before getting back to the world of Ereri.  
> Anyways, I plan on getting back to normal (hopefully getting out a chapter per week) with this story as well as with the other story that I write for (The Jealousy). 
> 
> Again, just wanted to remind you all that my Instagram account is called - Ererilove - and that I post previews and cute, fluffy pics of ereri (pics that I KNOW you can't live without seeing, just admit it already)
> 
> Well, I'm off. I hope you're all well, and I just wanted to remind you all that you are lovely creatures, and that I would just love to hear from you! Hopefully I'll see you in the comment section, but if I don't, then that's okay too - You're all awesome! Thanks for sticking with my story so far!


	23. Pass The Sugar, Brat.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Armin's POV. His meeting with Levi.

It was raining that thursday, but at least we made it in one piece. The day had been busy for the police officers, though the boys had no idea why. However the result of it was an almost empty building that was waiting for them when they entered.

“Are you sure this is the right place?” I half-joked as I pulled down the soaked newspaper from my head – it had been used to protect myself from the rain, though it hadn't done much good. After shaking my head like a dog to get the worst out of hmy golden locks, I threw the newspaper in the trash bin at the secretary's desk. She was sitting there as she was supposed, though she was the only person other than Eren and I.

“Yeah, I'm positive … Maybe everyone's having lunch?” Eren mumbled to himself, as he looked around. It sounded more like he was talking to himself than me, so I ignored it and went over to the secretary instead.

“Excuse me,” I started out to grab the woman's attention. “Where is everyone?”

“A lot suddenly came up out of nowhere. Most of them have gone to the crime scene, and the rest are …” She suddenly squinted her eyes together, raising an eyebrow while looking at me. “Name and reason to be here?”

I sighed, annoyed by the paranoia, though it was understandable that she wouldn't just give information to anyone who came to ask. 

“My name is Armin Arlert, and my friend Eren Jaeger works here. You know … The guy standing behind me?”

“Oh yeah, I almost didn't see you. Hey Eren,” She tilted her head to look behind me, sending Eren a big smile, which he returned.

“Hey Ingrid,”

“Just go right ahead, boys. Have a nice day, yeah?”

We nodded politely, before quickly walking away, and over to the empty desks.

“So … This is where you work, huh?” I said, looking around to try and gain some insight into Eren's workplace. “So where is your desk?”

“I don't really have one,” He said, sending me a crooked smile as he scratched his neck. “I just kinda … Do my thing, and then hang out here for a while. I don't need a desk, since I don't have to do any paperwork.”

“Oh,”

I leaned up against a random desk, taking a deep breath before looking at him again. I felt a little out of place in this new and unfamiliar building where I certainly didn't belong.

“So what are you supposed to do today?” I asked, fumbling about with the end of my shirt nervously. In reality I was getting nervous for when the time would come where I would have to meet his ex, Levi. I had gotten the impression that he wasn't supposed to be a very nice guy. And since I had prepared a rather didactic speech for him, I had also become pretty sure that he wouldn't like it one bit. And who was to say what he would do to me, if I pissed him off?

“Well, Chief Pixis is actually letting me do my first interrogation … Well, an assistant to an interrogation, but still! I'm a bit nervous,” He said, before starting to chew on his bottom lip. I grabbed his hand, giving it a small squeeze to comfort him.

“I'm sure you'll be great,” I said, standing up and giving him a quick hug which he returned happily.

“Thanks Armin,”

“I didn't know it was Bring Brats to Work today, hmm?” A stern voice behind me said, and I quickly turned around in surprise. It was an older man with black hair and an undercut, wearing a neat suit in which his hands were buried in the pant's pockets. I could look him directly in the eyes, which meant that he was even at the same height as me. This fact should probably have eased me, yet it seemed like it gave the opposite effect.

“U-Um, hello sir. My name is A-Armin,” I stammered, my cheeks blushing from being caught in such an embrace.

“Well, A-Armin, how about you get out of here, so the people whom actually work here can … Oh, I don't know, work?” He growled in a low tone, pulling out his hands just to cross his arms tightly over his chest.

“Y-Yes sir, I'm sorry sir,” Was the only thing I could say, yet I had no idea where to actually go. I turned around to look at Eren with a pleading look that said 'help me'.

“The cafeteria is downstairs, just take the elevator. I'll be there in an hour or so,” Eren answered quietly, giving my shoulder a consoling squeeze, before pointing at the elevator that lay at the end of the room.

I nodded before walking towards it and trying not to break into a run instead. I pressed the button and kept telling myself not to look back as I waited. The door finally opened after what seemed like ages, and I quickly got in and pressed the button to the cafeteria. As the door started to close in front of me, I caught a glimpse of Eren and the scary guy talking to each other. It was only for a second though, and then I was on my way.

 

\- - - - -

 

I had only been seated at a table by the window for about 40 minutes, before something happened again.

The grass area outside the window didn't contain anything out of the ordinary, yet I still kept my eyes there. That was why I was more than just surprised when someone suddenly had seated himself in front of me without my knowledge.

“Pass the sugar, brat.”

I shivered in horror when I turned around to stare the scary guy right into the eyes. He was sitting right in front of me, his legs crossed over one another, and holding a cup of tea in a rather peculiar way.

With a shaking hand I did as I was told, handing over the sugar. He didn't thank me or look at me, he just poured very little into his cup before taking a sip.

We sat in silence for a long while, my eyes boring into the table as I was afraid to look anywhere else. If I looked out of the window again, he might see it has rude, and become mad. And that was I sight that I wasn't ready to see.

“So, Eren tells me that you're his best friend.” He started out after something that feels like I've been waiting forever.

“Uh-huh, y-yes sir. Armin Arlert, sir,” I mumbled, nodding weakly.

“I know, you've already told me,” He said, sighing deeply before continuing. “So Armin, how long have you and Eren been friends?”

“Our whole lives,”

“Aha. So you go to the same school?”

“Yes.”

“So you know everything that a best friend is supposed to know, right?”

“ … Yes,”

Why was this strange and scary guy so interested in Eren? And why was he asking me all of this instead of Eren?

Levi leaned in over the table in such a way that I couldn't just evade his look. I looked up, only to be caught in his intense gaze, as he sent me a cunning smile.

“Then you should be able to guess who I am,”

I observed him again, _studying_ him, as I tried to understand what he meant. He was as tall as I was – which wasn't a lot – he had an undercut and black hair, he was intimidating as hell, yet even though I had been terrified by him, Eren had seemed at ease around him, so he had to be …

My eyes widened in shock, as I figured it out.

“L-Levi?”

“Correct,”

My hands clenched into fists immediately, and I threw it down against the table, making rather a lot of noise. This seemed to finally get his full attention.

“I have a bone to pick with you, Levi Ackerman.”

“Hmm?” He raised an eyebrow, looking at me with genuine interest in his eyes. I took a deep breath, preparing myself. This wasn't going to be fun. Not fun at all.

“You hurt Eren really bad. But he has finally healed, and has moved on. But working with you will only make it worse. So you need to stop harassing him, or else – “

“Whoa whoa, there! Calm down, brat. Who says anything about harassing?” He said, putting his tea cup down. “I care about Eren. He's the one person in this world that I've truly loved. I hurt him, yes, but I regret it. I really only want the best for Eren.”

“Then … “ I was surprised to hear this coming from such a scaring man, but I couldn't let myself be tempted to become soft. He could be manipulating me after all. “Then if you want the best for Eren, leave him alone! Being away from you is the best for him. You're only going to hurt him again otherwise,”

“And how the hell do you know that?” He growled, a big difference suddenly appearing in his voice. _Scary_. It quickly changed to being neutral again, though. “How do you know that I haven't learned from my mistakes, and are ready to accept Eren for who he is, and what he can do? I love him, Armin Arlert. I am ready to take the consequences of being with a brat like him who has such ability. I may not have been before, but then again, as you say … Eren has changed, yes, but so have I,”

I was speechless. It took all my strength just from stopping my jaw from dropping. I couldn't help but believe this man. I didn't know him, or anything about him, but I could sense that he had spoken from the heart. This was his true words, this was his true intentions.

And I couldn't help but feel like I wanted to help him achieve it.

Wait, _what_?! Was I going insane? Why was I suddenly thinking like this? No, I had to start thinking about Eren. I had come here to protect him from this Levi person. Yes, that was it!

Even though it didn't really feel like he needed any protection … No, stop. I couldn't just bend it like that. Even if Levi's intentions were pure, he couldn't just keep harassing Eren in hopes of him falling in love with him again.

“I understand you. And that is really admirable. But Eren doesn't love you back, so it becomes harassment when you don't understand that there's a line that you're not supposed to cross,”

“Don't lecture me, boy,” Levi said, sighing in annoyance. “I damn well know that. But I also know that Eren still has feelings for me, he has just somehow suppressed them. So I'm just trying to dig those feelings out of him again,”

I was silent for a while, as I thought of what he had said.

“How can you know for sure that he still loves you?” I asked, sending him a skeptical look. He just hummed a cheery melody, with a smug look in his eyes.

“Want to help me find out?”

We both stared at each other for what seemed like the longest time, as I considered his words and their meaning.

“I … No. I understand your situation, but I know my best friend. There’s simply no way,” I said, shaking my head. How could he believe that I would agree to help him? Me, Eren’s best friend, help his former lover get him back? That had to be a joke. As if I would agree to lie and deceive my friend.

Levi didn’t look disappointed, though he didn’t look happy as well. It would be more sufficient to say, that his expression hadn’t changed at all. 

“Hmm... Fine, then. It was just a suggestion, after all.” He gave me a simple nod, before lifting the tea cup up to his lips. “I’ll respect your decision – “ he took a sip. “ – Even if you’re wrong,”

I frowned in astonishment from his blunt words. How dared he?

I was just about to open my mouth and give him a snappy remark, but before I was able to, a loud noise cut through the air. I looked around, confused as to where the noise came from, and what it was. The answer was given to me shortly after, as I watched Levi pull out his cellphone and put it to his ear. 

“Yes?”

I stared at Levi, as his face changed from distant and cold, to shocked and horrified, only within seconds. His fingers that were tightly grasping around the tea cup, suddenly became loose and stiff, and I watched as it fell to the floor and shattered into a million pieces, only by a few seconds.

“ _What_?! I’ll be right there!” He threw his phone back into his pocket, not even acknowledging that his cup was now broken on the floor, as he flew up from the chair. 

“What’s happening?” I demanded to know, as I automatically jumped up from my chair as well. It seemed really serious. 

“It’s Eren,” Was the only words that came out of his mouth, yet it was more than enough to make me pale within seconds. I could feel a knot in my stomach, as I followed Levi who had already started running towards the stairs.

“What about him?!” I exclaimed behind him, so that I was sure he could hear me. He didn’t even stop to tell me, and his voice wasn’t very loud, yet the words that came out of his mouth burned themselves to the inside of my head so that I would never forget them after that.

“Something happened,”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dramatic ending, say whaaaaaaaat?!
> 
> Haha, sorry guys. I actually have something really important to ask you all! So here we go:
> 
> Do you want smut in the final chapter?
> 
> As always, stay lovely ~


	24. CPR

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The last of Armin's POV.

Levi kicked the door open, though he didn’t move further in order to get an overview over the situation at hand. 

I stopped just behind him, looking over his shoulder to create an overview for myself as well. Two guards were trying to hold down a blond-haired beauty, and at first I was confused as to they were treating her as if she was some kind of criminal – that was until I saw the unconscious body lying on the floor in front of her. 

Levi had seen as well it seemed, as he ran forward.

“Out of the way,” He hissed at the guard that was sitting at the body’s side. As he was apparently too slow, Levi pushed him out of the way.

“Eren! Eren, can you hear me?” I could hear Levi say out, and it wasn’t hard to detect the desperation in his voice. I could feel the tears pressing on, and the lump in my throat didn’t help. It wasn’t hard to understand what had happened here. The blond-haired girl was the criminal that Eren had to interrogate, and she had somehow attacked him before any of the guards could interfere. Now she was being put in handcuffs, though she was still trying to put up a fight. A guard had tried to revive Eren, but with no luck – And now Levi was trying to as well.

“Did you check if he was breathing?” Levi asked – no, more like yelled at the guard, as he started doing compressions onto Eren’s chest. 

“H-He wasn’t when we c-came in …“ The guard mumbled nervously, clearly intimidated by Levi’s sudden fury. 

“Did you give him CPR immediately after?”

“I n-never learned i-it … “

“You incompetent shit!” Levi screamed, stopping the compressions to give the guard a short look. “Go get Chief Pixis. NOW!” 

The guard got up and left, running right past me. I was still standing in the doorway, clutching my shirt where my heart was supposed to be, as I watched Levi starting the compressions again. I could faintly hear him count the number of times he pressed down onto Eren’s chest. When he had gotten the precise number of times, he stopped, and instead placed Eren’s head into position. He placed a hand under his chin and pinched his nose. Then he bent down and pressed his lips against Eren’s, in an attempt to get the oxygen going inside Eren. There was nothing romantic or passionate about it – yet I couldn’t help but think that this probably wasn’t how either of them wanted to kiss the other person. 

It didn’t seem to work, so Levi started the compressions again. 

“Come on, Eren! Don’t do this to me now!” Levi cried out, and I could hear how out of breath he had become. I took a step closer, just as Levi bent down to give him mouth-to-mouth again.

“You can’t leave me, brat. I won’t allow it,” He whispered, and I was only barely able to hear it. Not because I wanted to listen in, it was pure luck. Yet I couldn’t help but feel like I had invaded something rather personal from Levi’s side.

I watched as he gave him mouth-to-mouth, and it almost came as a shock when Levi suddenly pulled back, and Eren started coughing. I sighed loudly of relief, and it was first then that I realised that I had been crying. The tears were slowly sliding over my cheeks, and dripping down onto the floor. 

“… L-Levi ...“ Eren mumbled after he was finished coughing. He opened his eyes, and I could see it in his eyes, as he recognized the face in front of him. 

“Levi,” He repeated, his voice sounding hoarse and weak. The corners of his mouth slowly turned upwards, in the same second as tears started forming in the corner of his eyes. His eyes looked hazy, and it didn’t seem as if he was fully conscious yet – however, he still managed to lift both his arms, reaching out to Levi. In that exact moment, it looked like he couldn’t be happier. The whole scenario reminded me of Sleeping Beauty, and it was almost as if Eren had awaken from his sleep, only to see that his prince was waiting for him.

Levi pulled him up in a sitting position, and as the space between them enclosed, their arms wrapped around the other person in a tight embrace. 

They stayed that way for a moment, before Levi turned his head slowly, looking in my direction. He didn’t say anything, but he didn’t need to after all – his eyes said it all.

_Do you still believe he doesn’t have feelings for me?_

And the worst part of it all was that I didn’t. Besides, it was more than clear, that Levi only wanted the best for Eren. He truly loved him.

I was convinced, and so I had decided.

I nodded in his direction, crossing my arms over my chest, as I signaled with my eyes back to him.

_I’ll help you._

\- - - - -

 

“I’m really glad you’re okay, Eren.” I mumbled, as I grabbed his hand. He was sitting in a hospital bed, one he had been forced into though he didn’t really need it. The woman whom he had been interrogating had suddenly started choking him, and his oxygen had been cut off for too long. But now that he was feeling completely fine, the doctors still wanted to keep an eye on him. So he had been told to stay in the bed to rest, while they waited for the results of the tests that they had taken this morning. I understood their worries – there could have been done some damage to Eren’s brain, since it had gone without oxygen for so long, but it still seemed unfair that he wasn’t allowed to even walk outside to get some fresh air. 

“Me too,” Eren said, sending me a crooked smile, though his eyes couldn’t hide the fatigue that he was experiencing. I couldn’t help but feel sympathetic towards him. Eren had gone through so much. His whole life he had been treated as nothing more than dirt, and now that things finally was starting to go in the right direction, something like this happened. He didn’t deserve this – he deserved better. He wasn’t supposed to have such an experience like this – he wasn’t supposed to be traumatized and hurt like this. 

“How are you feeling right now?” I asked, ignoring that I sounded like an overprotective mother. 

“I’m fine, Armin! That’s the third time you’ve asked me today,” Eren chuckled, clearly thinking the same thing that I was. I laughed as well, letting go of his hand and leaning back in the chair. 

“Sorry, sorry,” I said, holding up my hands in a defensive position for a few seconds, before resting them in my lap. 

“So … “ I started out a few minutes after, nervous about how I should handle this. ”You were really lucky that Levi was there, huh?”

Eren tilted his head, raising an eyebrow at me. He was probably wondering where I was going with this. I had to admit that I had my own doubts as well. Was this even a good idea?

“Yeah, I guess … “ He mumbled, shrugging.

“We were actually in the cafeteria when it happened,” I continued, still looking at Eren with focused eyes. “When some of the guards called him to tell that something had happened to you, he just threw everything he was holding, and started running to your rescue. It was really … something else,” I said quietly, looking at him to try and notice the changes in his face. My story clearly had made an impression, because he looked very surprised, his jaw dropped and eyebrows raised. 

“R-Really?” 

I nodded, and when his cheeks turned pink, he quickly looked away. 

“The guard couldn’t do CPR the correct way, so if Levi hadn’t been there, you might have been dead,” I continued, as if we were having the most casual conversation ever. “He really saved your life.”  
“I know that,”

”Are you sure about that? You don’t seem very … Thankful,”

“Cut it out, Armin!” Eren finally snapped, looking back at me. I sighed, as I recognized Eren’s anger. He always got like this, when I tried to push him and he didn’t want to be pushed. Eren was known to be stubborn, but somehow I still found myself to be amazed by how much he could ignore in the attempt to get his way. 

“Sorry,” I repeated myself, and another minute went by where there were nothing but silence between us. 

“Don’t you think that you still lo – “

“When the hell did you start to care so much about what I think about Levi? And by the way, didn’t you think that Levi was bad for me?” He interrupted me, looking at me annoyed, crossing his arms. I shrugged, trying to look like it didn’t really mean anything. 

“I guess I changed my mind, when I saw how he rushed to your side, the second he heard that you were hurt. It doesn’t get more clear than that,” I stated firmly. This seemed to shake Eren a bit, if only a little. “Doesn’t that say something about him?”

“Well, just because it says something about him, doesn’t mean that it says something about me,” He hissed, before huffing a low ‘Hmpf!’. I sighed once more, starting to slowly doubt that he would ever realize his feelings.

There was clearly no way that he could be convinced through ways. Something bigger had to happen, before he could break through the wall that he had put up himself, trying to distance himself. 

I still couldn’t help but get a little frustrated, though. That Eren was intentionally keeping himself from potential happiness. And the worst part of it was that it was so easy to see that Eren still cared – he just refused to admit it. 

Something buzzed in my pants, and I pulled up my phone to look at the screen. Levi was calling me? I had only gotten his number yesterday, and he was already calling me like this? It felt so … Secretive. I felt like I was really lying to Eren.

“Who’s calling you?” Eren asked in the same moment, giving me a slight jump scare.

“Huh? U-Um … It’s Levi,” I mumbled, quickly standing up and running out of the room, before Eren could ask me more questions.

“Hello?” I put the phone up to my ear.

“How’s it going so far?”

“It’s impossible. There’s no way to make him realize it if we just talk to him about it. We need some kind of trigger. Some kind of big gesture … And I’m not talking about giving him flowers. I mean, something that will make him either insanely angry or jealous.”

There was a long pause, almost to the extent where I started to feel uncomfortable. I was just about to say his name, before he spoke again.

“ … I have an idea,”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, next chapter is the last! *cries* and then it's overrrrrr
> 
> Oh well. This chapter was a bit short, but that's because the last chapter is damn long! I'm serious, it was, like, 4K, and then you all wanted lots of smut, so now it's over 6K! But oh well, I had to make it a good and long chapter, because ... it's ... the lassstttt oneeee *cries more*


	25. The End

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is the end. *cries*

How had I found myself to be in this bizarre scenario?

Levi had invited Armin and I over to a 'meeting' at his apartment, and even though it had sounded like something official where everyone else would be there as well, it was only us three. Levi had needed some kind of 'input' from Armin, apparently because Armin had impressed him with his extensive knowledge on things. So why did I need to be here?

And if that wasn't enough, they had both been acting really weird through the whole evening. And now we were all sitting on the couch, looking at the journals of the information that we had gathered until now.

Levi placed his arm on the back rest of the couch, right behind Armin just a moment before Armin had leaned back. It almost seemed like Levi had wrapped his arm around Armin, and the sight made me incredibly irritable without quite knowing why.  
"See this?"

"Yeah. It's some kind of slang to cover up the real thing. A password maybe?" Armin mumbled, looking intensively at the paper that Levi was holding in his lap.

"Hmm, that would definitely make a lot of sense … " Levi tilted his head when looking at him, sending him a smile. "Armin, I'm actually really happy that you didn't mind helping out. You're a great help," He said, patting Armin's knee. My eyes widened, as he stared at his hand. I waited for it to move away from Armin's knee, but it never did.  
"No w-worries," Armin said, though stammering quite a bit. He seemed nervous now, but that was understandable with Levi being so close.

"Don't you think as well, Er – " He couldn't finish his sentence, because when he turned around and saw my face, he became speechless. I was sitting in a chair only two meters away, but that was close enough to see everything that was going on, and it was first now that he noticed me. My hands had changed into tight fists, and my jaw was clenched. I was staring at them with eyes burning with wildfire, and my breath had become ragged.  
Where had this rage suddenly come from?

I was so pissed off; I didn't even have any opportunity to calm myself down. And that's how there was no way of stopping what would come out of my mouth next.

"STOP IT! STOP TOUCHING HIM!" I exclaimed, standing up in the same instant as the words had come out. They both stared at me; Armin's face was painted in horror, while Levi's was more surprised.

Why was he surprised? How could he not expect me to be mad, when he kept touching my best friend like that? And so intimately? I was the only one who had been touched by him like that – I was the only one who should be that close to him – Not Armin, not anybody else!

"I … I actually think I have to get back soon … So maybe I should just go, so you can explain," Armin mumbled, mostly talking to Levi, as he stood up and quickly ran over to the door to get his shoes on. Levi raised himself from the couch calmly, and without even looking at me, he walked over to the blonde who had just gotten on his coat. I couldn't see very well from my position, but it was clear to me that Levi had grabbed Armin's chin and … Was … Leaning towards him … And …

I was about to yell again, but the back of Levi's head was in the way, so I couldn't see exactly what was going on.

I had a pretty good idea though.

When Armin stepped away again, his cheeks where pink, and his whole face looked flushed, as if he was embarrassed over something.

"C-Call me later, E-Eren," He stammered, sending me a little wave before running out the door. I took my chance while Levi was closing the door after him, to walk towards him in quick steps.

"Y-You … You bastard!" I yelled, sending a fist right towards his face. Unfortunately, he dodged it, but it had still made an impact. He stumbled back, until his back hit the wall behind him. A few meters more, and he would probably have landed on his ass.

"Eren, calm down," He said, yet there was a hint of something in his voice … When I looked at his face, it was clear to me.

He was _chuckling._

"What the hell is there to laugh about?!" I asked, my vision almost getting red with rage. "You're screwing around with _my best friend_? You old pervert!" I hit out after him again, and this time instead of dodging it, Levi grabbed my arm and pulled me closer. He snuck his other arm around my waist so I couldn't pull away either.

It didn't stop me from struggling, though.

"Let me go!"

"Calm down, Eren," Levi said, with a teasing smile. "Your jealousy is showing,"

I stopped moving for a second to let his words sink in.

"What the fuck do you mean with that?" I asked, my voice finally lowered down to a normal tone, though I was still out of breath.

"Well, think about it. Why would you be so mad about me and Armin flirting? Unless you still had some sorts of feelings for me, that is. I mean, you wouldn't be this mad, if someone else flirted with Armin, right?" He raised an eyebrow, looking deeply into my eyes, as he patiently waited for an answer.

I tried to imagine Jean or Marco flirt with Armin, and even though I would be annoyed if Armin dated Jean, I still … Probably … Maybe … Wouldn't mind.

No, I definitely wouldn't experience this kind of rage if it was anyone other than Levi.

But of course I couldn't exactly tell him _that._

"It's because you've dated me before! It's disgusting that you think it would be okay to be with my best friend after me," I snorted, though avoiding his eyes. He noticed immediately, loosening his grip on my arm so that he could grab my chin and force me to return his intense gaze.

"Yeah, that might be true. I could believe that," He whispered, his face so close that I could feel his warm breath on me. I got the chills, shivering under his eyes. "But then how would you explain this?" His fingertip made small circles on my cheeks, before sliding over my bottom lip. I felt mesmerized, not able to move even an inch. What was he going to do? I couldn't help but to feel intrigued and wanting to experience what would come next. "You're panting so loudly, and your face is all red … How would you explain it, if it isn't because we're this close again?"

I tried swallowing the large lump in my throat that had suddenly appeared, and was refusing to get away. Why did my limbs feel like spaghetti right now? I wanted to show him that I didn't care about it, that I wasn't affected by him anymore, but my body had somehow stopped responding. With this, the only thing I was able to notice, was how the situation was, that I was in. We were standing rather close to each other, with only a few inches from each other's faces. Levi's right arm was wrapped tightly around me so that our lower parts were pressed against each other, while his left hand was still at my cheek, caressing it. Since I wasn't able to do much with my arms at this moment in time, they were just resting on Levi's chest.

"I … I … " I tried finding words that would explain why my body was in this kind of condition, but I couldn't come up with any.

That was probably because I had already realized why, and I had no energy left to keep lying.

"At a loss for words?" He asked in a soft tone, tilting his head slowly while still wearing that sly smile. It annoyed me greatly that he seemed so pleased with himself.

"N-No!" I quickly retorted. "I just … Of course my body is reacting like this on its own … "

"Oh? So I still have that kind of effect on you?"

"That doesn't mean anything!" I said angrily. "Don't try to fit the pieces together if they don't match, Levi! My body is reacting on its own, that doesn't mean that I still love you."

Levi was silent for a few seconds after that, and it looked like he was thinking. But when those seconds were over, something happened that I hadn't expected at all. His face lowered, so that he was almost looking _up_ at me, with a dangerous look in his eyes.  
"Oh yeah?"

I was swept off my feet as our positions were switched, and it was now my turn to be pressed against the wall.

"Wha-What are you doing?!" I gasped in surprise. My arms and hands had gotten life back into them again, and they were now clutching onto Levi's shoulders as if it was life they clung to itself.

"Alright Eren, I'll accept that. But if you really want to be free of me forever, never to see me again after this, then let me do one thing before you go … Okay?"

His eyes was the only thing I could focus on right now, but it was almost too confusing as they were overfilled with different types of emotion, all mixed with each other.

"O-Okay … " I nodded slowly, not able to say no. And to be perfectly honest, I was a little curious as to see what he would do.

"Eren … " Levi took a deep breath, preparing himself for something big, and for a moment he almost looked … Vulnerable. Fragile. It felt so strange to see him like that, as it was a side of him that I had never seen before. " … I love you. I know you said that you didn't care about me anymore, but I thought that if you saw me getting close with Armin, you would realize that you still … Deep inside, still loved me. Or at least cared about me. I really didn't want to lose you, so I went to desperate measures … I still am, I guess." Levi sighed as he released his grip on me, and for a moment there I thought that that was it. Yet I still couldn't move, I was frozen in place as I stared at the man who had once been the love of my life. Was he really saying these things? The cold, hardened man who only showed his love through small gestures or physical contact … Now he was giving me a declaration of love?

"I love you, you stupid brat, so it can't be helped ~ "

With those words his hands slowly raised up to cup my face, his fingertips touching my hair and ears. As if I was watching in slow motion, I watched as he slowly came closer, his lips creating only an inch of space between them before they were pressed against mine in a gentle kiss.

When our lips met, it wasn't like anything I had experienced before. Sure, I had kissed Levi thousands of times before, but this was somehow … Different. It was like a hole inside of me was being filled up again, like the feeling of longing after something that I hadn't known what was, finally had been satisfied. My yearning after the unknown hadn't been unknown after all. It had just been a memory that my body remembered, even though my mind hadn't.

And that was why my arms had wrapped around his neck, and I was returning the kiss just as gently, moving my lips slowly in a pattern that felt so damn familiar that it almost hurt.

This was the only hint that Levi needed – his hands slipped down my throat and ended at the back of my neck, while pressing the rest of his body closer up against mine. I wasn't really protesting, though there was no way I would be able to, even if I could. But it didn't matter anyways – the only thing my mind was being wrapped up with, was the feeling of absence that I had noticed suddenly wasn't there anymore. I wasn't missing anything at this point, I was … completely … satisfied.

So maybe he had been right? Maybe he really had woken something up in me that I had thought I had gotten rid of? Something that I had been trying so hard to suppress … In the end, he had been able to dig it up again.

My love for Levi.

But then again … Was it really such a bad thing after all? He had already said that he loved me, he had said that he accepted me for who I was. He had even apologized.

So why hadn't I been able to forgive him?

Well … Because until now, I had thought that I didn't care about him anymore. That I hated him.

"Ah!" I gasped, as Levi threw his head back for air. I had been so caught up in my thoughts that I had forgotten that I actually needed to breathe. We were both panting for a moment, trying to get our acts together, before looking at each other again. I wanted to reach out to him, to grab his shirt and pull him back into another kiss, but he had somehow managed to step away from me, out of my reach.

"That was all I had to say," He mumbled, as his expression had changed back into something that was unreadable.

What was he thinking? Why had he stopped? Why wouldn't he continue? These thoughts roamed my head, as I tried standing up properly, not having to lean up against the wall anymore.

Was he trying to make me say it out loud? I mean, I thought it had been pretty clear from when I had returned his kiss and all, but maybe he had another agenda …

We stood there in silence, just staring at each other, as I tried to figure out what to do. But as soon as I was prepared to say the words and open my mouth, my whole face got flustered, and I felt a rush of embarrassment.

"Stop looking at me like that," I mumbled instead, looking at Levi's feet so that I didn't need to look at his face.

"How am I looking at you?" He said, with an innocent voice that clearly was just trying to manipulate me.  
"Oh, come on!" I crossed my arms tightly over my chest, as I groaned lowly in annoyance. "You want me to say it. I know that you want me to. But I can't, so please stop expecting me to!"

As I finished the sentence, my hands immediately flew up to cover my flustered face. This was so embarrassing. I couldn't even tell him what he wanted to hear. Even if I wanted to tell him, it was just too embarrassing.

"Let me help you then," Levi chuckled lowly, and before I could remove my hands to see anything again, he had suddenly swept me off my feet, holding me as if I was a bride.

"Set me down!" I automatically whined, throwing around my legs. His grip was too tight though, and in the end I just ended up leaning onto his shoulder. "What are you doing?!" I still demanded to know though.

"Will you shut up for a second, brat?" Levi sighed dramatically, though I could still see a smile forming from the corners of his mouth. We walked through his hallway, past the bathroom and guest room, and with a soft kick against the door, we entered the bedroom.

"L-Levi," I immediately said, after he had put me down onto the bed. "This is too fast, I c-can't – "

"Didn't I tell you to shut up for a second?" Levi said, placing his hands on his waist, as he stood in front of me. Silence was created between us as our eyes intertwined and locked in place. He looked like he was thinking though, trying to figure out the situation.

"You know, I never actually thought that I would be successful. I hoped, but … I was never sure." He sent me a soft smile, but I was too consumed in his words to return it.

"What are you trying to say … ?" I mumbled, my hands tightening around the duvet that I sat on.

"I'm saying that I haven't planned this far along," He finally answered after some time, before putting up a genuine laugh. "Look, Eren … I just want to be with you. I want to touch you, to hold you in my arms and know that you are here. I want to wake up in the morning and I want the first thing to see is your face. Okay?"

" … Okay," I could only whisper the answer, as his words where almost too intense for me. I shivered under his gaze, and when he noticed, he quickly gave me a peck on the cheek.

"I'll be right back, okay? All this stress and nervousness has made me build up quite the sweat," And with that he disappeared out into the bathroom, leaving me behind. A few moments after I heard the shower getting turned on, confirming that he indeed was taking a shower.

Oh yeah, it shouldn't come as a surprise for me. This former lover of mine had been a clean freak after all, and something like that wouldn't just disappear. I looked around the room to try to remember if something had changed, and to my surprise I found everything to be the way it had been when we had been together. I was even more surprised by the fact that I could remember it all perfectly.

Still, I couldn't help but to feel misplaced and uncomfortable here. As if I didn't truly belong. So I took off my socks, and crawled up to the pillows at the end of the bed, where I placed myself with the back up against the wall. I was even sitting in my side, the side of the bed I had gotten every time I had slept here.

It was almost amusing to remember all these little things.

Suddenly getting an idea, I took off my shirt, and threw it on the floor. I continued to crawl under the duvet, and placed my head on the pillow.

And then I let out a deep sigh. Yes, this was exactly how I had remembered it to be. It might even be better … The feeling of the almost silky fabric against my bare skin, the perfect balance of softness and hardness of the bed madras …

_I want to wake up in the morning and let your face be the first thing I see._

His words repeated themselves in my head, and I immediately understood what he meant. I, too, wanted to wake up in this bed tomorrow morning, when the sunshine would appear through the large window behind me, and shine a light onto Levi's sleeping face.

Just imagining it made me smile. I closed my eyes, grabbing his pillow and holding it tightly against my chest. Yes, this was perfect. Indeed … it … was …

"Eren?"

I blinked twice, before being able to see anything again.

"H-Huh?" He was so close again, his face mere inches from mine. He lay in his own side of the bed on his side, his head resting on the palm of his hand, while of course only wearing a towel wrapped around his waist.

Was it really a coincidence, or was he just using it to his own advantage to look so damn irresistible?

"Are you hungry?"

What? What question was that to ask? It was late in the evening, so it wasn't even like I would have room in my stomach for a lot of food before bed.

"Um … N-No?" Or did he mean something entirely different …. No, bad Eren! I had let my eyes wander off, but I had quickly stopped myself before Levi had noticed.

"Not even hungry for Pecan Pie Ice Cream?"

I took a deep breath of excitement automatically, but I quickly slapped a hand over my mouth to cover it up. Too late, though.

"U-Um … Maybe … " I mumbled with a simple shrug as if I didn't really care, looking away in embarrassment.

"I guess old habits die hard," Levi grinned, as he stood up from the bed. "I might not be able to read your thoughts like you, but I still know what you're thinking," He said with a teasing wink, before disappearing out in the hallway.

I couldn't help but feel … at ease. It seemed like it had felt so easy for Levi to talk about my special gift, as if it was just another thing in our daily life.

Could it really be, that with Levi I could finally feel at ease with this? That I could finally feel comfortable within myself to be with this man who accepted me for who I really was, and the abilities that I had?

"Ice cream coming up!" Levi announced as he entered the room yet again, climbing up into the bed with a large tub of ice cream and two spoons already half buried in the ice cream.

"Yummy," I mumbled to myself with a smile, as I sat up to better eat it. We ended up both sitting leaned up against the wall behind us, and my left arm had snuck under his right arm which was carrying the ice cream, so that it would be easier for me to get to the delicious dessert.

"Hey," I said, with a mouth full of ice cream. "Now that I think about it … Did you seriously go as far as to kiss Armin?"

"What? When did I do that?" He asked, sounding genuinely confused, before taking another spoonful in his mouth.

"When he was leaving. You said goodbye to him. You _kissed_ him," I couldn't cover up the detestation and annoyance in my mouth even if I wanted to. Yet it still irritated me a little when Levi just seemed to laugh it off.

"No, silly. I was leaning into him so it would seem like it. I actually just whispered thank you to him, that's all."

"Oh … " I started to put the pieces together, and with that explanation, it seemed like the puzzle fit. However, Levi still turned towards me with a serious expression, after putting away the ice cream on the night stand.

"I would _never_. You have to believe that. I haven't been with anyone other than you since we broke up – I haven't even been able to look at other people like that … And I never will. You're the only one for me, Eren Jaeger."

I blushed by his words, though I didn't feel embarrassed this time.

I just felt loved.

"Likewise, old man."

"Brat,"

I grinned as he pinned me down, and started tickling my stomach.

"No, no, no, no, no, no, no! Stop, Levi, stop! You're not an old man, I'm sorry!" I laughed, twisting and wriggling my body to avoid his hands. He finally stopped, his hands instead grabbing my wrists to keep my hands over my head.

"You know, little brat, you haven't paid for the ice cream yet," As he noticed my confused _'Ehh?!'_ look, he laughed. Damn it, I loved his laugh. "Did you really think I would give you something so expensive for free? I mean, come on, I'm not made of money."

"No, you're made of steel," I joked, looking down at his abs that was showing. He rolled his eyes at me as a response.

"Tch. Is appearance really the only thing you think about?"

"It's a little hard not to get distracted by them, I would say," I grinned, before raising an eyebrow. "But, you know … I don't really have any money."

"Oh, don't worry." Levi said, sending me a devilish smile. "I'm sure we can come up with something,"

And with that, the conversation was over, and Levi had begun kissing me from my collarbone, neck and chin. He worked his way all up to my mouth that was already parted because of the panting. Was I really already panting that bad? Well, Levi could easily have that effect on me, that didn't really come as a surprise. Still, I should have learned some more self-control. My limbs had already started to feel like spaghetti, and I was now in no condition to move.

"Nghh … L-Levi … " I mumbled, trying to keep my voice down. My body remembered him well, the problem was just that my head still wasn't ready for this new change. It felt so strange to let my body be touched by him again, especially when I had convinced myself that I would never let this happen again.

And then, an idea popped into my head.

"You want me to stop?" His lips hummed against my skin, testing me. I gulped, reaching up with both arms just to grab his shoulders.

"No! No, I don't … I just want…" I intertwined my left leg with his right one, and within mere seconds I had turned the situation around so that I was the one on top. " … To take control,"

Levi raised his eyebrows in astonishment.

"Oi, brat, what are you – "

"Hey," I interrupted, grabbing his wrists to hold him down, if he would try to remove me. If I wasn't well prepared, then his strength would be too much for me to handle. "I'm not a brat anymore,"

"Hmm?" Levi grinned, as if he suddenly had gotten an idea. "Then prove it," He said with a teasing look in his eyes as he started moving his hips from side to side, rubbing his lower body against mine. I groaned in surprise, as my body instantly reacted to his movements.

"You're such an ass," I snickered, though leaning down and kissing him instead of doing what I knew he wanted me to. Instead, while distracting him with the kiss, I released his wrists so that I could let my own hands trail all over his upper body, already starting to unbutton his shirt.

I took my sweet time – only to tease though – opening every damn button that was holding his shirt together, all the while I was slowly rubbing my bulge in my pants against his, causing friction. Levi was trying to cover up his panting while having a painful face expression.

"Eren, damn it … Get on with it already."

"No."

I opened the last button, and immediately bent over to start nibbling at his right nipple. It didn't take long though, before I started licking and sucking it as well – all the while I was smirking, because Levi was getting worse at hiding his excitement.

"What the hell? Why not?"

"I need to punish you for what you did with Armin …" I said, my lips buzzing against his skin. My mouth never even left his nipple for a second, though it seemed like the buzzing was making him react as well.

"But we didn't do anything?" Levi panted, his hands grabbing my head and forcing it upwards to look at him. I sent him a mild smile, before giving him a quick little kiss on the corner of his mouth. "Maybe, but you made me think that you did. That's enough,"

"Oh really?" Levi grabbed the end of my pants and started pulling at them to get them open. "Fine. Then punish me. Just get on with it already,"

"Well, taking it slow is part of the punishment …" I grinned, though I understood him quite well. The bulge in my pants was beginning to hurt, partly because it was being confined in my pants right now, but also because I wanted to get on with it so badly. "But okay. I'll get on with it… On one condition though," I held up a finger in the air, and Levi stared at it with a confused and impatient look.

"What?"

"Never, ever …" I pulled him up in a sitting position so that our bare chests were pressed up against each other. I wrapped my arms around his neck, pressing my lips against his quickly, wasting no time at all. He responded immediately, wrapping his arms around my waist and tilting his head to deepen the kiss. It was a passionate kiss, our lips already being used to the other's again, but before we could french it up, I pulled away. " … Leave me again. Okay?"

Levi looked at me with astonishment, surprised by my words. It had gotten serious again, though it would only be like that for a short moment.

"I won't, if you don't either."

I rolled my eyes, letting out a small chuckle, before pulling away from him entirely. I didn't bother to get off the bed; instead I fell onto my back and started wriggling my lower body as I pulled the pants down, to get them off faster.

"Wow … I've never been more attracted of you, than in this moment right here," Levi said sarcastically, which resulted in me slapping his leg – since it was closest to me at that time.

"Oh, just shut up and take off your pants!" I grinned, as I threw the pants and underwear on the floor and turned my attention to Levi again. He was lying on his back once more, but he wasn't initiating anything that would seem like he was going to take off his pants. Our eyes met, and while I was looking rather confused, he was smirking.

"Weren't you going to take control? I think that also means control over my pants," He said, grinning, as he started to shake his hips from side to side, clearly teasing me. I rolled my eyes at him, but I still crawled over and started pulling both his pants and underwear down. It quickly uncovered all his length, and it would be an lie if I said that I didn't get more turned on by seeing it in all its glory. Holy mother of the Lord, I needed that thing in my mouth, and it couldn't get in there fast enough. Now rather impatient, I pulled his pants fully off, throwing them down beside mine, so that I could give him all my attention as quickly as possible.

"Can I …" I licked my bottom lip, as my eyes kept trailing off Levi's face and onto his throbbing member. Levi had noticed, clearly, since I could hear him chuckle a bit.

"Do I really need to give you permission?"

I took that as a yes, and soon I was positioned in between his legs, my hand already grabbing it. As I started stroking it, pre-cum appeared from the top, and I instantly reached up with my thumb to start caressing the head, smearing the cum all over it.

I could hear Levi loud and clear as he let out a moan – he had probably given up on the idea that he could muffle all his sounds. It was much easier this way … Besides, the sounds he was making was almost half the fun of doing this. I leaned over to lick it, a large one all the way from the base to the top, before I took it all into my mouth.

"F-Fuck, Eren!" Levi gasped, as I started sucking it intensively, as if it was the greatest lollipop I had ever tasted. Well, it definitely was the biggest I had ever gotten, but a lollipop didn't even get close to be as good as this was. I took more of him into my mouth, until my gag reflex started reacting – this was almost too much for Levi, as he sounded like he couldn't even breathe anymore.

"N-No, Eren, it's too much … I-I can't!"

Oh, how I wanted to answer him. That was pretty much impossible right now though, and besides, I wasn't going to stop now. I was getting to the best part after all.

I started moving my head up and down more quickly, my tongue trying to catch up, as I sped it up.

"No, don't, I-I can't hold it much longer … Eren! F-Fuck, I'm c-coming!" That was followed by a loud moan, as Levi came into my mouth. There was no way I could swallow it all, so I automatically pulled away. I had swallowed some, and there was even some trickling down from the corner of my mouth – the rest was on my cheeks and throat when he was done. I gasped for air, as I tried to get an overview over the situation. Levi, as sexy as ever, had placed a hand over his eyes, still panting heavily, and I could even see small drops of sweat slide down from his forehead. His upper body was glistened with a thin layer of sweat, and it was moving up and down quickly, matching his breathing.

I licked my lips as I crawled over his legs and instead hovered over his body, only inches from touching him.

"If you don't say that was your best blow job ever, then I'm going to be pissed," I joked, before grinning. Levi slowly removed his hand so that he could look up at me, and chuckle lowly as well.

"Oh god. I came all over your face …" He mumbled, as he noticed the thick, white cum stuck to my face. "There's a cloth in the night stand. Get it off with that,"

I did as he said, and after a few seconds I had gotten most of it off.

"Still pretty?" I asked sarcastically as I pouted my lips towards him.

"As pretty as ever," Levi laughed, before grabbing my wrist and pulling me close to him again. "Now, Eren …" He started kissing my neck. "… Can I please, please, fuck you now?"

I bit my lip, my lower half reacting immediately to those words.

"But … Don't you need to get hard again …?" I asked hesitantly. Levi snorted as an answer, and I almost wasn't sure if he had gotten angry because of my words.

"Have more faith in my body, you little brat. I'm not _that_ old yet,"

I laughed, placing both my hands on his shoulders.

"Okay okay, sorry … Then please …" I slided down so that I was just above his erection again. "… Make me feel good as well …"

I grabbed his cock, placing it at my entrance. Since there was still his previous cum all over it, any more lubrication didn't feel as important – after all, I didn't have the patience anymore. I started lowering myself down, and when I could feel him enter me, I let go of his cock with my hand. I took a few breaths, placing my hands on his stomach to get a sense of stability, before finally starting to move.

It was almost too much. I could feel my mind become hazy, as my neck snapped and I ended up looking up at the ceiling.

"Ah! Ah! F-Fuuuck … Nghh!" I breathed out, moaning shamelessly as I let my body's instincts take over. I couldn't concentrate on my movements anymore, I didn't even care that I was moving faster than any of us could handle.

"F-Fuck Eren, if you keep that pace, it won't be long before – "

"Shut up!" I interrupted him, but his words had still brought me a little bit back into reality. I grabbed his wrists, pulling him up to me. This new position forced Levi to pull his legs up a bit, which resulted in pushing my ass a little further ahead. I gasped loudly as he somehow had gotten even deeper, hitting my sweet spot, and that sent me right into a state of pure ecstasy and pleasure. I wrapped my arms around him once more, this time the more appropriate description was that I was desperately clinging to him, as I rode him even faster.

"L-Levi~" I moaned his name into his ear, and that was enough to make him turn his head and catch my lips with his. This kiss was sloppy and wild – not that I gave it much thought after all – and all I could remember to do was to just cooperate with his tongue. We both moaned into each other's mouths, but at some point I had to pull back.

Only a few seconds after that, I came. It spurted out of me and landed onto Levi's stomach, covering it with my cum. I gasped for air as my whole body started shaking lightly from the intense pleasure I was feeling all over my body in that exact moment. It was only a mere seconds after that Levi came as well, filling me completely with him. He rode out his orgasm, until there was nothing left in him, and it was first afterwards that I noticed my nails had made marks into his skin, from this exact moment.

"That was – "

"- Incredible," I interrupted, finishing his sentence before he could complete it on his own. He just laughed it off, staring into my eyes with his.

"Oh my, Eren, how in the world did you know I was going to say that?" He asked, his voice filled with sarcasm, as he raised an eyebrow.

"Would you believe me, if I said a little bird told me?" I asked jokingly, but before he could even think of his answer, I pressed my lips against his once more.

"Mmmh," Levi buzzed against my lips after a few seconds of intense kissing, and it made me laugh so much that I had to pull away.

"Don't! That tickles," I chuckled, licking both my lips to make the buzzing feeling go away. Levi reached up to grab my chin, forcing me to look at him, and for a moment everything around us seemed to disappear. He was looking _very_ serious, and it quickly put a stop to my laughter.

"Wh-What is it…?" I asked hesitantly, confused as to what might have made him change his mood this quickly.

"Eren," Levi was whispering now. I furrowed my brows, staring seriously into his eyes, awaiting whatever came next. He didn't say anything else though, and I started to worry. What was he … ?

It hadn't been my intention at all, but after sex, I always seemed to have a hard time finding the strength to keep up the wall I had put up in my head to stop myself from reading other people's thoughts.

At first it sounded like a buzzing at my eyes, but as soon as I actually concentrated on Levi's head, there wasn't much resistance. And what came next, left me speechless for a long time after.

_I love you._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just want to thank you all for reading this fanfic. It was the very first fanfic I started writing, and now it's over - I have a lot of new projects that I'm working on though, so if you like what I've written until now, then you should go check out my other fanfics!
> 
> The Jealousy: Levi has tormented Eren since they were little kids, and now, 8 years later, they're forced to share a bedroom. Will their hate for one another turn into something else? (Still going!)
> 
> The Band: Eren's in a band, Levi is an amazing singer that has been convinced to be the lead singer in said band. Sexual tension, shared passion for music, and lots more, heh. (Completed)
> 
> The Tutor and The Teacher: Levi was once Eren's teacher, and they had a relationship - but Levi broke up with him and moved away. Many years later, they meet again by coincidence - Eren is now a german tutor, and has agreed to tutor Hange Zoë ... What he doesn't know, is that Hange's roommate is his old lover. (Completed!)
> 
> And if you're on IG, you can follow my account ( Ererilove ) for fanfic updates, and just really cute pics of Ereri / Riren!  
> Anyway ... Thanks again. Love you all! Thanks for sticking with this story all the way till the end. :)

**Author's Note:**

> Feedback is wonderful, and it would be so great to hear if you like/dislike this story. I'm writing other fan fictions as well (The Tutor and The Teacher, The Jealousy and The Band) if you want to check those out.  
> The thing that gets a writer going, is knowing that someone out there appreciates the writers work.
> 
> IG: Ererilove  
> Deviantart: Danishartist  
> Fanfiction.net: Danishartist


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